I Hate Uchiha
by SasuTenLuvr
Summary: This is the story of my hate affair with Uchiha Sasuke. They call him the class heartthrob and the number one rookie. I call him a self-righteous jerk. Eventual SasuxOC- reeally eventual.
1. Chapter 1

**Ladies and gents of Fanfiction, I have but one thing to say.**

**By now if you've read my many unfinished attempts at multichapter fics, you should know I am very bad with updating. The only reason I am uploading this new story is because I have five other chapters for it and am in the process of writing another. That being said, don't expect me to update in a timely manner.**

**I'm hoping a story like this will be easier to write because I'm honestly just editing the plot to put my OC in, and I am never in shortage of Naruto plot. By the way, her name is still Suten, but this OC is different. Up till now to write Suten I've been channeling my hyperactive and crazy side. Now I'm trying a more cynical and sarcastic side to her. So far I like it, but I want to know how you think!**

**So cross your fingers, or as Eminem would say, 'Hold your nose, cause here goes the cold water.'**

**BTW, miss me? I know you did.**

**I don't own Naruto, all I own is Suten.**

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><p>My name is Takashi Suten. I'm not going to go into my family history, my blood type, my height and weight(because unlike other girls, I just don't care about how many pounds I've gained.) All you need to know is I am currently 12 years old, with black hair I keep in a mid-ponytail and blue eyes. Not light blue, not dark blue. Just blue. Deal with it. My ninja outfit is straight-up black and white: a white…for lack of a better word, short tube top dress with slits up the sides and a black belt around the waist(because where else do belts go, really?), a black open vest that stops at my chest, and black leggings to just past my knees. Oh, and my fingerless gloves. Black. And my ninja sandals. Black. I promise, it sounds like I'm wearing all black and just a little white, but if you put the outfit together I look like a stylish…zebra.<p>

Anyway, my class had graduated from the Academy yesterday, and we were all mostly sitting in the same seats we had been for years(hopefully for the last time) waiting for Iruka-sensei to come in and tell us what teams we're on- aka Orientation Day. Seriously, I couldn't wait to be out of here.

"TA-DA!"

Startled, I jerked out of my daydreaming and looked up, groaning as I saw none other than Sakura and Ino bickering over whose foot had entered the classroom first. Ignoring them for the moment, I looked over the other classroom occupants and picked out the Rookie 9. There was Sasuke, sitting where he had been for years. There was Shikamaru, getting as much sleep as he could. There was Choji, stuffing his face. There was-

"Naruto, move it! I'm trying to get past you!"

I looked back and sighed as the three most annoying people in this class met. Uzumaki Naruto, the kid who was always getting into trouble and making us do extra work. Haruno Sakura, the girl who beat up on people one minute and the next blushed and giggled sickeningly. And of course, Uchiha Sasuke. They called him the class heartthrob and the number one rookie. I called him an asexual jerk.

Naruto jumped up on the desk and started an intense glaring contest with Sasuke, while Sakura and the other fangirls looked on.

"Cut it out, Naruto! Stop glaring at Sasuke-kun!"

"Beat him up, Sasuke-kun!"

They were too close, I realized. Huh. It almost looked as if they were about to…

SMOOCH!

I stared, wide eyed, at Sasuke and Naruto in what seemed to be an intense lip lock. Words failed me just then. And when they stopped failing me, all I could think was, What just happened?

"Naruto! You're dead!" And then began one of the most painful beatdowns I had ever seen in my life- okay, so I looked up for a minute to check out the damage. Thankfully, Iruka-sensei walked in at that moment and began talking about how we were all ninja now, but still the bottom of the heap as genin, blah, blah, blah. Yes, I admit, I tuned him out for the first 3 minutes of the Orientation. I honestly didn't care.

"And now for team 7."

Immediately I perked up and started wishing again. 'Please, please, please.'

"Uzumaki Naruto."

"Huh?"

'Oh heck no.'

"Haruno Sakura."

"YES!"

"I'm doomed…"

'Definitely no now.'

"Uchiha Sasuke."

"CHA!"

"I'm doomed…"

'Yes! All the ridiculous people are in one group, so now I don't have to worry about…'

"However, we had an odd number of students this year, so Team 7 will be having a 4th member, Takashi Suten."

Wait a sec... That was me. I was in a team…with almost everybody I hated from this class. With a groan, I slammed my head into the desk, ignoring the pain from the hitai-ate. Somebody kill me. Just kill me now.

"Iruka-senseii!"

Hmm. It seemed in my mental moping I missed the rest of the teams being called. Meh, I didn't really care.

"How come someone as awesome as me got grouped with Sasuke?" Naruto whined, stabbing a finger at the aforementioned brunette. Wait, isn't brunette a word for people with brown hair? So what's Sasuke's hair color called? Navy-nette? Wait, getting off topic.

Iruka sighed. "Of the 29 people in this class, Sasuke has the top scores." He gave Naruto a look. "Yours are at the bottom."

I couldn't help joining in with the class's laughter. Oh, Naruto. You poor, poor idiot you.

"You both being placed on the same team provides a balance. Add Sakura and Suten in the middle, and you have a completely even team."

"Just stay out of my way," I heard Sasuke grumble. "Dobe."

That was it for Naruto. "What was that?" he yelled, only to be violently put in his place by Sakura.

"Shut up, Naruto!"

Even though I knew I would regret it, I said with a sigh, "So, I've got the loudmouth idiot, the crazy fangirl, and the spoiled rich kid on my squad. You're right, Iruka-sensei- good thing I'm here to even things out."

I felt glares burning into my head, and I turned and stuck my tongue out at the three of them. I really didn't want to have anything to do with them at all, so I was just letting them know I hated all of them so there was no confusion.

"What did you call me?" Sasuke asked dangerously, eyes glinting.

I looked him dead in the eye. "Spoiled. Rich kid."

His eyes narrowed. Obviously he wasn't used to girls talking to him like this. "Go drown yourself."

"Go burn in a hole."

"Go fall off a cliff."

"Go kiss a frog." There were some 'Oohs' at this.

"...I hate you."

"Right back atcha."

And we ended in silence. Until someone decided to come to Sasuke's rescue.

"Who do you think you are?" Sakura screeched. "Insulting Sasuke-kun like that! Why, I oughta-"

I shot her a glare, allowing some of my killing intent to seep out. "Shut it, Pinky!"

She shut it, though looking a little stunned.

Iruka blinked at the sudden explosion of hostility. "Oookay... As much as I know this is a bad idea, you're all dismissed for lunch. We'll meet back here so you can all meet your sensei."

I grabbed my bento box and was gone before anyone could stop me. I really didn't want a confrontation, and I knew one was coming.

I ended up sitting for lunch in one of the trees, like I had for years. I was halfway through my onigri when I heard Sakura sigh. "Yeah, right. That's never gonna happen."

I snorted. Probably thinking about Sasuke again. Although it was good that she realized she didn't have a chance-

"Sakura...you have such a large, noble brow...it makes me want to kiss it."

It took all I had to keep from spitting out my mouthful of rice. Was that Sasuke? I looked down from my branch, squinting my eyes. Yes, it was Sasuke- wait, no, it wasn't. I'd been classmates with these people too long to mistake a chakra signature. That was definitely Naruto. But what the heck was he doing pretending to be Sasuke?

"I just want...you to love me, Sasuke..."

And I had lost valuable dialogue by spacing again. Great. I couldn't help noticing how close Sakura and 'Sasuke' seemed to be now. It looked as if they were about to...no. They wouldn't.

"I'm desperate..."

Yeah, no duh. I squeezed my eyes shut, wishing hard. 'Please, something happen, something happen to mess this up...'

"Gotta go!"

I looked down just in time to see 'Sasuke' scurrying off holding his stomach, leaving Sakura in the dust. I blinked. Ookay…Well, that was fast.

Since obviously nothing else interesting was going to happen, I jumped down from the tree- scaring the heck out of poor lovesick Sakura- and headed on my way. There was plenty of time to kill before lunch ended and we headed back inside, so I amused myself with humming as I sat in another tree.

What can I say? I like trees.

"Hey, you."

Great. Now what? I looked down to see Sasuke- the real Sasuke- in all his 'glory'. Joy. "What do you want, Uchiha?"

His eyes were narrowed in a glare as he looked up at me, arms folded. "To finish what we started in the classroom. Get down here. Now."

I lay on the branch, dangling my hand idly above his head. "Sorry, you don't tell me what to do."

He swatted at my hand. I pulled it out of reach and dangled it again. He kept trying to hit it. So, because I hated him, I made fun of him.

"Come on, Uchiha. Just a little higher! Jump! Jump! Reach for it! Come on, reach!"

I heard growling. Oooh, now he was MAD. A mad Uchiha- my worst nightmare. Note the heavy sarcasm.

"You want me to come get you?" he asked darkly, making hand signs. "I'll get you."

I gave him a bored look. "Yeah, real scary…" I drawled as he sucked in a deep breath. "What're you gonna do, Big Bad Wolf? Are you gonna blow my house down?"

And then he blew fire.

Actual fire. Not red air- actual, hot fire. 'Katon: Gokyakku no Jutsu!'

I dove for the ground just in time, tucking and rolling to ensure none of the flames had gotten to me. When I could confirm I hadn't been singed, I stood and looked up at the now burning tree. "Wow. You sacrificed a tree to talk to me. I'm flattered," I told him. By now a crowd had gathered.

"I don't care about killing trees," he snapped, turning to face me again. "Listen. I don't care who you are, but if you think that acting like me is going to get me to like you any more, you've got another thing coming."

…what?

I stared at him blankly as it slowly began to dawn on me what he had just said. "You think…I like you? You actually think…I'm trying to win your attention?"

"Hn. There's no other reason you would-"

It's a shame he never got to finish his sentence. Because by that time my fist had already connected with his face.

Everyone stared as the great and powerful Uchiha Sasuke went flying into the dirt from the punch of a girl. This must have been a degrading moment for him.

I cracked my knuckles, my killer intent coming out in waves. "Now YOU listen. I don't like you. I never liked you. And I will NEVER like you. I would rather kiss the Hokage then spend ten seconds in your company. So don't expect me to come running after you with hearts in my eyes like your brainless little fangirls. You are a stuck up, overbearing, arrogant, whiny little prince who needs to crush other people to make himself feel better. Grow up."

And with that, I walked away. Leaving the Uchiha to nurse his wounded pride.

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><p><strong>Take that, Sasuke! Looks like Suten isn't one of your fanclub after all, huh? <strong>**No, I'm just kidding. I still love you...even though you just got punched and taken down a few pegs by a girl.**

**But I don't want to hear Sasuke whine: I want to know what you think. You know the drill: Questions? Comments? Concerns? Please review!**

**No, seriously. PLEASE! With SOPA casting a shadow over every site I frequent, I don't know if this is the last time I'll hear from you again. So review, okay?**

**Please? **


	2. Chapter 2

**Well, one person reviewed and about 12 people clicked on this...so I'm guessing you readers are at least mildly interested..?**

**I will try not to lose this interest! Here is another chapter to I Hate Uchiha. I must say, I'm really enjoying writing sarcastic!Suten. So all I can do is hope you enjoy reading her.**

**So yeah. I don't own Naruto. Or Sakura. But Suten is mine. And Sasuke is mine in spirit. If you ever see a weird tattoo on his skin, that's my mark. XD**

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><p>"It's not fair!"<p>

I pretended not to hear Naruto whine for the hundredth time. After the fourth time, I didn't care to hear it. The only reason he was upset- and believe me, I know everyone else was, too- was simply because-

"Everyone's gone somewhere with their sensei…Iruka-sensei even went home… so how come OUR sensei has to be the late one!"

Yeah. That. I sighed, then dared a glance at Sasuke, who I was pleased to see was sporting a nice purple bruise on his cheek. He noticed me watching and glared. I was tempted to flip him off, but settled for a returned glare before staring up at the ceiling. I wanted to go home. Spending so long trapped in the same room as these people was TORTURE.

"Naruto! What're you doing?"

Hopefully it was something interesting. I looked up to see Naruto wedging a blackboard eraser into the door. That old prank? Really?

"This is what he gets for being late," Naruto snickered, jumping down from the stool- yes, he needed a stool to reach the door.

"Hn. Our sensei is an elite Jonin," Sasuke pointed out. "There's no way he'd fall for something as juvenile as that."

"Well, considering he's so late, he's not exactly living up to my expectations here," I mumbled.

Before Sasuke could say anything else, the door opened.

THUNK.

Naruto immediately started rolling around on the floor, laughing his little orange butt off. "He fell for it, he fell for it! Can ya believe it! I told ya he'd fall for it!"

Sakura immediately tried to suck up to the guy, playing the wide eyed innocent card. "I'm so sorry, sensei. I tried to stop him, honest!"

My eye twitched. He actually fell for one of the oldest tricks of the book? And this guy was supposed to be our sensei for the next however many years?

The man picked up the eraser and held it in his hand, staring at it as if deep in thought. I noticed then that he had gray lopsided hair, and his hitai-ate covered one eye, and a mask covered the rest of his face. So apparently, he was either extremely ugly, or extremely serious about his privacy. I was betting on ugly.

"My first impression of this group," he said in a somewhat nonchalant voice. "How can I put this? You're all idiots."

…wow. That was cold. That was ice cold.

He took us to the top of the Academy, where we all sat beside each other. Sakura beside Sasuke, and beside him was Naruto. I, of course, picked my favorite spot. A tree.

Trees. Don't knock em till you try em.

"All righty then." The failure of a Jonin looked us over. "Why don't you go ahead and introduce yourselves?"

Sakura looked confused- something that must have been easy for her. "Introduce ourselves? What do we say?"

He shrugged. " Your name, for one. Likes, dislikes. Hobbies. Dreams, even."

"So why don't you go first, sensei," Naruto suggested.

He shrugged again. "If you say so. My name is Hatake Kakashi. My likes and dislikes don't concern you. And my dream…I have a few hobbies."

Hmm, so far we have learned…nothing. Great first class.

"Well, that was a waste," I heard Sakura whisper. "All we learned was his name!"

"No duh," I told her. She glared at me. I glared back. She turned away. I snickered.

"Well, enough about me," Kakashi said. "Why don't we start with…you. The orange one." He pointed at Naruto.

Naruto grinned like the idiot he was, playing with his headband. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto! I like…"

I ended up tuning him out as he went on and on about his specific preferences when it came to ramen. It wasn't like I'd be cooking for him, I didn't care.

"And my dream is to be Hokage," he finished. "The best of the best! Then everybody will respect me!"

"Good luck with that," I muttered.

"Hey!"

Kakashi decided not to intervene. "Next. How about the girl in red?"

Sakura put on a bright face. "I'm Haruno Sakura! I like…well, the person I like is…" She shot a glance at Sasuke and started giggling like crazy.

"Sasuke," I finished for her.

She didn't seem to notice. "My hobbies are…" She started giggling again.

"Watching Sasuke in the shower," I finished again.

Now she noticed, but pretended not to. "And my dream is…"

"To get in the shower with Sasuke."

"What?" she screeched, whipping around to glare at me. "I would never… I mean…I wouldn't dare-!"

"Wouldn't you?" I said simply, which shut her up.

"And your dislikes?" Kakashi asked, trying to get back on track.

"Naruto!" she hissed. "And Suten!"

"Feeling's mutual, Pinky."

Kakashi sweatdropped. "Ookay…Now how about the dark brooding one."

He didn't move, probably trying to look as 'dark and brooding one' as possible. "Uchiha Sasuke. I hate everything- especially Suten," he added, shooting a glare at me, "and there's nothing I like," he directed at Sakura, who looked dejected. "I have no dreams…only a goal that I will achieve...to restore my clan…and to kill a certain someone…"

Well, he's a happy character. Noticing everyone looking at him with fear, I called down, just to ruin his image, "Hey, Uchiha, how'd you get that bruise on your face?"

The image was successfully ruined as he ducked his head, scowling. "Urusai!"

Kakashi sighed, his one eye resting on me. "And last but not least, the girl in black and white who seems intent on ticking her teammates off."

"That's me," I confirmed. "Okay, let's get this over with. The name's Takashi Suten. I'm not telling you what I like, but so far I hate all of you and everything you may stand for. My hobbies are ticking off the people I hate, as you caught, sensei. And my dream? Nah, don't feel like telling you that. Nice try."

"Che," Sasuke scoffed, probably trying to kill my image in return. "She probably doesn't even have a dream."

"Neither do you," I pointed out lazily, cleaning out my ear with my pinkie. "And what you do have is pretty stupid. Basically you want to pump out as many mini-yous as possible, and kill some guy you don't feel like naming- I'm not even going to get into that."

"Hn. You don't know anything."

"Well, halle-freakin-lujah. If I knew anything else about you, I'd kill myself."

He twitched. "You want me to burn you out of that tree again?"

"You want me to give you another bruise?"

"OKAY!" Kakashi said finally, holding up his hands in surrender. "You all clearly have very…different personalities. But that's good. Tomorrow, we'll have our first mission."

And Naruto was back to his hyper self. "A mission? What kinda mission?"

"First we're going to do something that the five of us can do together."

"What, what, what? What is it, what is it?" Naruto looked like he was about to explode from excitement. I found myself wishing the actual mission was going to suck- just so he'd stop acting like a 5 year old on sugar.

"Survival training."

Wish granted. Naruto immediately deflated. "Whaat? Survival training?"

"Why are we training when it's a mission?" Sakura protested. "We already had plenty of training at the academy!"

To be honest, they both were right. After 4 years of survival training, I was just a little sick of it by now.

"Oh, this is no ordinary training."

Naruto looked confused. That probably wasn't very hard for him, poor idiot. "So what kind of training is it?"

Kakashi didn't answer. He just chuckled. You know those dark, ominous chuckles that send shivers down your spine and let you know something very bad is coming your way? Yeah, that kind of chuckle.

"What's so funny?" I asked, not sure I wanted to know but asking regardless.

He kept on chuckling. "If I tell you, you'll probably chicken out."

I was pretty sure at this point, nobody wanted to know what he was laughing about. But he continued anyway. "Out of the 28 graduates, only 10 are actually going to become genin. The rest get sent back to the Academy for more schooling. In other words, this is going to be a very difficult test, with a 66 percent failure rate."

Naruto looked petrified. Sakura looked shocked. I looked stunned. Sasuke looked…well, does Sasuke ever look anything other than angry or bored? Sasuke looked Sasuke, okay?

"See? You're chickening out already."

I wanted to strangle him.

"But that's not fair!" Naruto burst out before I had a chance to do so. "I went through all that trouble…what was the final exam even for?"

"That?" Kakashi sounded as if he were telling Naruto what kind of bird that was flying by. "It just picks out those who have the potential to become genin."

"WHAAT?"

"Anyway, the test is tomorrow at the training grounds. Bring your equipment and meet up there at 5 am."

'Okay," I thought to myself. 'I can do this. I've been there, done that…to an extent. Hey, how hard can it be?' Then I looked over at the three morons I would be working with. 'Okay, pretty hard. But I'm sure I can handle this…'

"Meeting adjourned. Oh, by the way: don't eat breakfast. You'll throw up if you do."

'We are so doomed.'

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><p><strong>Oh no! Suten has to work with a ramen-loving idiot, a fangirl, and a...a Sasuke! How will she ever get out of this one? Maybe Suten will get to make Sasuke look bad again! I do love making them argue ^3^<strong>

**Questions? Comments? Concerns? Please review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter three! And I'm still plenty ahead- I've got a good feeling about this fic so far. This is gonna be a long chapter, just so you know- all my battle scenes will probably be one chapter instead of dragging them out over 2 or 3.**

**Survival training with Kakashi! How will Suten fare with the morons she must work with? Will she put her dislikes aside and team up with them? Or (more likely) denounce them all as failures and try to succeed on her own! **

**Whatever happens, there will naturally be plenty of Sasuke and Suten butting heads- because that's just so fun to write.**

**I think I've kept you waiting long enough! I own Suten, Sasuke's (hopefully) fading bruise, and that is all!**

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><p>I wasn't feeling much better about this whole big exam as I walked up the hill to the meeting point. Probably because it was 5 am. And because I didn't have a warm, comforting breakfast in my stomach. And as Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura approached at the same time as I did, the bad feeling didn't go away.<p>

Sakura rubbed her eyes. "Good morning..." she greeted sleepily.

"Mmm," I moaned.

"Hey," Naruto yawned.

Sasuke said nothing. He didn't even look tired. I glowered at him. "What are you, some kind of robot?"

He glared back. "Hn."

"Hn, yourself."

"Hn."

"Hn."

"Hn."

"Hn."

"Don't make me kill you."

"Couldn't if you tried. Oh, wait- you already did."

"...How long do you plan on holding that over me?"

"Until something else to hold over you comes up."

"Hn."

"Hn." And with that, I sat down on the grass to wait.

We waited...and waited...and waited...and waited...until finally...

My eye twitched. "Forget it. I'm going to get this fool." I stood up, brushing the grass stains off.

Sasuke glared at me. "Don't even."

"I will even. Because they've fallen asleep," I jabbed a finger at Naruto and Sakura, who were sleeping with heads rested on their knees, "I've been stuck with you for five freaking hours. And that is unacceptable."

"It's no picnic on this end, either," he snapped. "Stay here."

I gave him a deathly glare. "You don't control me."

He returned it. "If I controlled you, you wouldn't be annoying me like you always do. Stay."

"No."

"I said stay."

"And I said no."

Kakashi chose that moment to show up. "Good morning!"

Naruto and Sakura immediately jumped to their feet, stabbing fingers in his direction. "You're late!"

"Oh, sorry about that. You see, a black cat crossed my path, and...is there a reason for all this hostility?" he asked.

Neither of us responded to him, locked in a death glare contest. I did not intend to lose, but I knew he didn't, either.

Kakashi sighed. "I appreciate the whole deadly enemies stare-down idea, but we need to get going. That and the killing intent you two are giving off is scaring your other teammates."

It was then that I noticed the nervous looks we were getting from Naruto and Sakura. With a hn from him and a huff from me, we turned away, parting in mutual dislike. For now.

Kakashi started a timer. "This alarm is set to 12 noon. All you have to do is get these bells from me." He jingled three silver bells in front of us. "Whoever can't will have no lunch. I'll just tie you there-" he pointed at a convenient tree stump, "and eat lunch in front of you."

"So that's why," Sasuke grumbled.

"...he told us not to eat breakfast," Sakura finished.

"Pretty dirty," I added sourly.

Then Sakura made a brilliant observation. "Wait...why are there only three bells?"

He shrugged. "Since there are only three bells, at least one of you is going to fail and go back to the Academy. It might just be the one...it might be all four of you. Use anything you like against me. But remember..." He snatched the bells up. "If you're not prepared to kill me, you won't be able to get the bells."

Sakura looked horrified at the thought of actually killing our teacher. "But that's too dangerous, sensei!"

"Yeah! You couldn't even dodge a chalk eraser!" Naruto started laughing at the memory.

Kakashi didn't bat an eyelash. "In society, those with lower intelligence tend to be the more loudspoken. Just ignore the idiot."

Naruto looked as if he didn't know whether he should be offended or not. As for me, I had no trouble ignoring him.

"Now, when I say go, you can get started. Ready…"

"Grrrrr…"

Hmm. It didn't take as long as I thought it would for Naruto to realize that yes, he should be offended. With a 'heroic' yell, he whipped out a kunai knife and charged.

I have no idea how to explain what happened next. One minute Naruto was about to attack the teacher. The next, his own kunai, arm and all, was aimed at the back of his head.

"Whoa, there. I didn't say go." The way he spoke, you would have thought we were playing chess or something relaxing, not starting a possible life or death battle. He released Naruto, who staggered a few steps before rejoining us.

"What just happened?" I questioned.

"I couldn't see him at all…" Sakura added.

"So this is a Jonin," Sasuke muttered.

"But, it looks like you're prepared to kill me now. So…how can I say this…I'm finally starting to like you four."

Well, at least now we have one person in the group who doesn't want someone else gone.

"Ready."

I crouched down.

"Go!"

And the four of us leaped into the trees. It was showtime.

**-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-**

Once again, I was in my favorite spot: the trees. Ah, trees. My favorite. Now first things first: I needed to come up with a strategy-

"Hey, you!"

Startled, I looked into the clearing. And guess what? There was Naruto.

"Let's go! You and me: fair and square!"

I facepalmed. "It can't be natural for someone to be this stupid."

Kakashi gave Naruto a you-can't-be-serious look. "You know, compared to the others, you're a little…strange."

"The only thing strange here is your hairstyle!" And, what do you know: he charged again. Someone get this child a new fighting style.

At least he was smart enough to stop as Kakashi reached into his weapons pouch. "Ninja tactic number one. Taijutsu."

Wait…he's talking about taijustu, which is no weapons…and he's reaching in his weapons pouch. Somebody please explain.

He reached into his weapons pouch…as we all stand or crouch or lie down or whatever it is we were doing at that time…and he pulls out…

A book.

Not just any book, either- I recognized that bright orange cover with the red writing whether I wanted to or not. Kakashi was reading porn.

He flipped open to the page he was on. "What's the matter?" he asked, as if he hadn't just started reading XXX rated literature while one of his students was trying to kill him. "Come and get me."

Naruto hesitated. "But…but how come you're reading that book?"

He shrugged. "Well, to find out what happens in the story. Don't worry about it. It's the same whether I'm reading this or not."

This was clearly the last straw. "I'm going to pound you!"

And for the third time today, Naruto charged. It was a shame he was no more successful than the other times he did it.

He aimed a punch at Kakashi. Kakashi blocked it with his hand- while reading.

He aimed a roundhouse kick at Kakashi. Kakashi squatted to dodge it- while reading.

He aimed yet another punch. Kakashi vanished, to appear behind him, his hands forming a seal. I noted with satisfaction that the book was shut. "You shouldn't let the enemy get behind you. Idiot."

I squinted. "Wait…isn't that…"

And Sakura burst out from her hiding place. "Naruto, run! He's going to kill you!"

"Too late. Konoha's Secret Taijutsu Master Art…"

I expected fire. I expected explosions. I expected the little knucklehead to get crisped to a cinder.

I did not expect Kakashi shoving his fingers into Naruto's jumpsuited butt.

"A Thousand Years of Pain!"

And Naruto went flying.

My eye was twitching uncontrollably. 'What…just…happened? That porn reading pervert. I'm not letting him do that to me. Who knows how much he'd enjoy it.'

And as Naruto splashed into the lake, Kakashi pulled out his little orange porno and indulged himself once again. "Now where was I…"

It wasn't long before two shuriken came flying out of the lake towards him. Whoa, not charging. It may have worked…if not for the fact that Kakashi caught them. They spun like rings on his fingers. He looked down at Naruto as the boy crawled out of the lake. "What's wrong?" he asked. "You won't get any lunch if you don't get a bell by noon."

"I know, I know!"

But Kakashi wasn't quite done. "You said you're going to be Hokage. But right now you don't look very promising."

Naruto growled. "I can still fight no matter how hungry I am!"

At that point, my stomach decided to growl. I sighed. "Thank you, Naruto, for reminding me of how hungry I am."

"I was just off guard a while ago, that's all," Naruto called as Kakashi began walking away. "I'm hungry, so I'm not…but that doesn't matter! I have to get a bell! I can't fail here no matter what! I'm gonna become a ninja!"

More Narutos popped out from the water, surrounding Kakashi instantly. "This is my greatest technique," he crowed. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" And they weren't those hologram ones, either. They were all real Narutos. Just when you started getting sick of one…

Then one of the Narutos jumped on Kakashi's back, restraining him. I had to give him credit, he was doing well. I highly doubted any of us would get that far. "I'm gonna make you pay for that attack on my butt!" he announced, coming in for a punch.

"Wow," I breathed, leaning in closer. "He might actually…"

PUNCH.

Nope. The Kakashi in Naruto's arms turned into Naruto. Kakashi had substituted himself for a clone and got away. Apparently that kid's shining moment just wasn't meant to be.

I sighed as Naruto started trying to figure out how he had just punched himself in the face. Hopefully Naruto's turn against sensei was over. Maybe I could take him next.

"Hey, a bell! He must've been in a hurry!"

I sighed and didn't even look up, silently counting down. 'Three…two…one.'

"WAAH!"

Yep. Normal Naruto. I watched him dangling from a tree by his legs. Then Kakashi appeared and started lecturing him. To be honest, I wasn't paying attention. All I knew was it was something about how stupid Naruto was, blah blah blah-

The whizzing of metal caught my ears, and I snapped to attention just in time to see…

To see five shuriken impale Kakashi in the side.

My eyes widened as the Jonin fell, blood spraying from his wounds. "He got hit!" I heard Naruto screech. " Sasuke, you overdid it!"

"He's not really dead," I told myself. "Right?" But I found myself breathing a sigh of relief as the dying Jonin turned into a log. "Good. He's okay."

A rustle of leaves let me know that Sasuke had relocated and was now crouched next to me. "Find your own hiding spot," I told him without looking. I heard rope slicing from Naruto, then another yell. Trap within a trap. Clever.

"You think I want to be here?" he hissed. "Keep quiet."

And then there was a high, incredibly girlish and desperate scream. One that could only belong to…

"Sakura," we said at the same time. Two down, two to go. At the moment, we were dropping like flies.

"I'm going to get a bell," Sasuke announced, darting off.

"I'm going to watch you fail," I called after him. "Jerk." And I settled down to watch. 'Let's see how he handles sensei.'

"Genjutsu. A type of hallucinatory technique. It's no wonder Sakura fell for it. But…I'm not like the others." Yes, he started out with a short monologue about how extraordinary he was compared to us. What a humble, charming boy.

Kakashi, of course, put him in his place. "Why don't you say that after you get a bell…Sasuke-kun."

When staring Kakashi down to make him lose nerve didn't work, Sasuke chose to start out by throwing some shuriken, which Kakashi easily avoided, saying, "No point in using normal attacks…" And then everything got complicated. One of the shuriken cut a rope, which unleashed a whole bunch of weapons, all of which Kakashi also dashed away from. But just when he was about to slow down, Sasuke showed up behind him. This guy didn't miss a beat. I wished I had a stick of dango to watch this with.

Kakashi just barely blocked the kick Sasuke sent his way, but grabbed his foot. The Sasuke twisted around and punched him. He grabbed his fist, too. It was a shame nobody reminded Kakashi that Sasuke had another fist and another foot, because that other foot went up to kick Kakashi in the head. And yes, Kakashi blocked that, too, but he had to let go of Sasuke's hand…

My breath stopped as the tip of Sasuke's finger brushed a bell… but Kakashi released him and jumped away just in time. Aww…and he was so close, too.

"Not bad," Kakashi congratulated. "I don't even have time to read Icha Icha now." He looked Sasuke over. "I'll admit that you are different from Naruto and Sakura."

Sasuke only grunted, then started weaving hand signs. Wait…I remembered those signs. He seriously wasn't planning to use…

'Katon: Gokakyuu no Jutsu!'

And Sasuke entered Big Bad Wolf mode again. Except most Big Bad Wolves I know don't blow fire.

Evidently he didn't think a little fire would kill Kakashi enough, so he continued to blow fire until he was completely sure Kakashi was dead and the bells were his for the taking. "When he said we have to come at him like we want to kill him," I muttered, "I don't think he meant going this far."

But I didn't have to worry, because when the fire cleared, it proved Sasuke's second attempt at murdering our sensei had failed again. Sasuke immediately panicked and began looking around wildly. "Where is he! Behind me? Above?"

"I'm where you least expect it," came Kakashi's disembodied voice. A gloved hand- and I kid you not on this- broke from the ground and grabbed Sasuke's ankle like a zombie movie. "Doton: Shinjuusanshu no Jutsu!"

And Sasuke got pulled into the ground. Up to his neck in the ground.

"Third ninja tactic: Ninjutsu." Kakashi, who was now standing on ground, looked down. "So, how is it? Can't move, huh? Looks like the old saying is true. The stakes that point out get driven back into the ground." And then he pulled out his book and walked away.

Immediately I jumped down from my tree, crouching in front of Sasuke's head with a grin on my face. "Well, well, well. What have we here?"

"Urusai!" he snapped.

"It's funny. I actually thought you were gonna do it. Guess not. And now…" I leaned in. "It's payback time."

He glowered at me. "Do your worst."

I shrugged. "Nah, don't feel like it. But I will do this." I reached into my weapons pouch and pulled out…a black felt tipped pen. Noticing his slightly nervous look, I grinned. "Oh, I'm going to enjoy this…"

**-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-**

Unfortunately, I only got to do a monocle, a scar, and a handlebar mustache before I was discovered. "Having fun?"

I didn't even twitch as I finished the scar. "Loads."

"I'll bet you are. But unless you want to go back to the Academy, you might want to try and get a bell."

I sighed. "Okay, okay." Standing, I brushed myself off and stood up, walking towards him. "Do, uh…do I get a chance to hide?"

Kakashi(who did you think I'd been talking to, Sasuke?) folded his arms, backtracking at the same speed as I approached. "I think you've done enough hiding for now."

"Yeah…" I scratched the back of my head. "Well, unfortunately,I don't have any fancy jutsus like Uchiha over there." I stretched out, trying to appear nonchalant, then teleported behind Kakashi, aiming an overhead punch at his face. He whipped around and blocked my punch, but that wasn't what I wanted to do, so I aimed with the other hand. This time he grabbed my fist, which was what I had been waiting for. I grabbed the wrist holding my hand, then used my momentum to flip over his head and wrap my legs around his neck. While he was busy trying to dislodge me, I used the precious seconds I had to lean all the way back(we were seriously back to back here) and reach for a bell.

Apparently Kakashi had learned his lesson from Sasuke, because I didn't even get to touch one. Quick as a flash he pulled off my legs and threw me. I managed to land in a one-handstand so I didn't end up performing a face plant into the ground, and pushed off into a standing position, turning to face Kakashi again, who thankfully was still there.

He only sighed, shaking his head. "Why is it that the ones that show the most promise are always the more trying? And why do the two that have the most potential have to be the ones that hate each other?"

I only shrugged. "Sorry, sensei, Uchiha's a prick. I can tolerate Naruto and Sakura; he's just the wax on the cake."

He looked mildly interested and puzzled, from what I could guess of his face. If an eye is anything to go on. I think not. "Wax, hm? Don't you mean icing?"

I shook my head. "Nope. Wax. Because you know how you've got a birthday cake, and you're all excited to eat it, and everybody sang already, and you blow it out- and then you find out the candles got colored wax all over your cake? And suddenly you don't really want to eat it anymore because waxy cake is freaking nasty? That's how Uchiha is to me. He's the wax in my birthday cake."

He hmmed. "I see. That's a, er, very interesting metaphor. Now, back to-"

BRIIING!

I deadpanned upon hearing that sound. That could only mean one thing. But just to condemn myself further, I said, "Sensei?"

"Yes, Suten."

"That was the timer, wasn't it."

"It certainly was."

"Darn."

**-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-**

In a few minutes I found myself sitting on the ground with the others: Sakura to my left, Sasuke to my right, and Naruto a little behind me. Tied to a stump. Apparently he had tried to cheat and eat lunch during the test. Idiot. My stomach growled, and everyone else's did, too.

Kakashi folded his arms. "Well, you four sound hungry."

"No duh," I grumbled. The second we got out of here, I was going home and stuffing myself.

"By the way, about the results of this training... None of you need to return to the Ninja Academy."

A shocked expression crossed Sakura's face. "What? But all I did was faint. Was that okay?"

I shrugged. "Hey, who cares? It all worked out!"

And we all celebrated. Sakura started bouncing happily. Naruto waved his legs around. Sasuke just smirked. Because he's a Sasuke. They never do much. That's actually the most emotion I saw him show.

Naruto beamed up at Kakashi. "So does that mean we all...?"

He nodded. "Yeah, you all... should quit being ninjas."

And the happy bubble just popped.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, time out!" I told him. "Yeah, we didn't get a bell. That doesn't mean you have to say something like we should quit."

"You should quit," he insisted, "because obviously you four are just kids who don't even deserve to become ninjas."

Clearly that didn't sit well with Sasuke. In fact, it sat with him so badly he got up and did a very Naruto-ish thing.

He charged Kakashi.

And naturally, he ended up on the ground, with Kakashi's elbow pressing into his back so he couldn't get up.

"See? Kids."

Sakura looked horrified. "Don't step on Sasuke-kun!" she wailed. Yes. The horror.

"Smooth," I muttered.

Kakashi continued to keep Sasuke down. "What is this, a game to you? Why do you think we separated you into groups?"

"What are you talking about?"

"None of you got the purpose of this test."

Naruto looked confused. "The purpose?"

"Yes. The purpose. The one that determined whether you passed or not."

My eye twitched. "And this purpose would be?"

He sighed. "Your heads must be empty. Again, why do you think you're in a group?" When none of us answered, he did it for us, finally. "Teamwork."

...ohh. Well, why didn't he say so? "So all you wanted was for us to work together?" I clarified.

"Exactly. But it's too late now. If you had all come at me, you could have gotten a bell."

Then Sakura made another brilliant observation. "But there are still only three bells. One of us would have to take the fall, that would cause conflict."

"Right again. This test was made to put you against each other. We're looking for those who can put teamwork before themselves. And you all failed. Sakura: you cared more about Sasuke than Naruto, even though he was right there and you didn't know where Sasuke was. Naruto: all you did was work on your own. Sasuke: you assumed the others would drag you down. And Suten: you made fun of Sasuke instead of helping him."

"Well, when you say it like that," I mumbled.

"Missions are done in groups. It's true that ninjas need well-developed individual abilities, but it's teamwork that is much more important. An individual action that disrupts the teamwork will result in danger or even death for the teammates. For example." Without warning he whipped out a kunai and held it to Sasuke's neck. "Sakura! Kill Suten or Sasuke dies!"

I swallowed, glancing at Sakura warily. Well, it had been a nice life.

To my intense relief, he put the kunai away. "That's what will happen. Someone's taken hostage, and you have to make an impossible choice." He finally got off Sasuke, who got to his feet and rejoined us with a sour expression. "In every mission, you put your life on the line. Look at this." He put a gloved hand on a carved, polished rock. "The names on this stone are all revered as heroes of this village."

Naruto looked excited at the prospect. " I like that! I like that! I've decided that I'm going to have my name carved into that! A hero! A hero!"

"These aren't normal heroes," he said simply.

Naruto clearly didn't get that this wasn't something to be excited about. "So what kind of heroes were they? Come on, tell me."

"Those who were K.I.A."

"K.I.A.?"

"Those who were killed in action." Sakura's face was more serious than I had ever seen before.

That shut Naruto up.

Kakashi strokes the stone thoughtfully. "This is a cenotaph. The names of my closest friends are on this stone..."

There was a moment of silence as we honored those who had fallen in the past. Even Naruto wasn't his normal cheery self. Then Kakashi said, "All right. I'll give you one more chance after lunch. However, the battle for the bell will be much harder. Eat to gain your strength only if you are up to the challenge. But don't let Naruto eat," he added, giving the blonde a look. "This is punishment for breaking the rules and trying to eat lunch early. If anyone feeds him, the person will immediately fail. I make the rules here. Got it?"

**-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-**

I was getting pretty sick of hearing Naruto's stomach growl, I mused as I munched on my onigri. But hey, I was eating, at least, and so were Sasuke and Sakura. If worst came to worst we could just hide him somewhere so Kakashi didn't kill him. Even so...

"I don't need to eat!"

Oh no. Please no. Not the self pep talk.

" I'll be fine! I'll be just-" Thankfully his stomach felt the same way I did about the matter, and cut him off with a loud growl. "Fine," he finished dejectedly. No matter what the kid told himself, even he knew he couldn't go without food.

I sighed. Oh, to heck with it.

"Here." I held out my open bento in front of his face.

Everyone stared at me. Sakura, of course, was the first to say something. "Suten, didn't you hear Kakashi-sensei? He said-"

"I know. But sensei's not here. And besides, I may not like you guys, but I'm not so cruel as to let a teammate starve while I eat in front of their face." I paused, then added, "That, and if you think I'm going to listen to Naruto trying to tell himself he's not hungry for the next hour, you're sadly mistaken."

There was a pause as the other two thought this over. Then they held out their trays, too.

Naruto looked touched. "Sakura-chan..."

"You don't need to thank me," she said quickly. "Just eat, hurry!"

"But..."

"It's okay, I'm on a diet! I eat way less than Sasuke-kun and Suten..."

"But Sakura-chan..." Naruto tried to move his arms, but due to them being tied to the stump, he just ended up wriggling like a fish. "See?"

I couldn't help snickering as Sakura groaned.

"Hurry up before he comes back," Sasuke warned, keeping a lookout.

The pinkette huffed as she picked up some rice with her chopsticks. "I'm only going to do this once, okay? Once!"

"Uh huh, uh huh!" That didn't mean he wouldn't be reliving the moment for years to come. Poor, desperate Naruto.

With immense reluctance, Sakura lifted the rice-laden chopsticks and placed it into Naruto's open mouth. He immediately chewed and swallowed, grinning happily. "Mmm!"

"YOU FOUR!"

In a giant puff of smoke, Kakashi appeared, wild with fury. Wait- he'd been watching us the whole time? He'd been waiting for us to do this?

Naruto and Sakura screamed. I, of course didn't, but on the inside I was terrified.

"You four broke the rules! Are you ready to face the punishment?" Black clouds appeared out of nowhere and thunder and lightning crackled around us as he made lots of hand signs, probably to perform some top secret A rank jutsu that would banish us all to fiery oblivion. So this was how it all ended?

"But...but you said..."

"Hmm?" Kakashi gave Naruto an ominous look, which shut him up immediately.

Then Sasuke jumped in. "You said we were a team."

He did? I was too busy panicking to think back- wait. "Yeah, you did!" I agreed. "If we let him starve, that wouldn't be teamwork: it'd be valuing ourselves over our teammates!"

"The four of us are one!" Sakura added.

Naruto nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, yeah, what they said!"

Any other day I would have snickered at them for their lame responses. Right now I was trying to keep us all alive as long as possible.

"The four of you are one? That's your excuse?"

We all nodded. I squeezed my eyes shut. It had been a good life. Could have been better, but a good life. Here we go: next stop, oblivion, any second now...

"You pass."

...what?

I cracked an eye open to see the clouds disappearing and the sun coming out. Kakashi was standing over us with what looked like a smile. "Huh?"

"You. Pass," he repeated.

"Yeah, I got that part...but why? I thought you said-"

He nodded. "You four are the first. People I had previously were blockheads who just obeyed me without a second thought. Ninjas need to see beneath the underneath. In the world of ninjas, those who break the rules are called scum. But those who don't take care of their friends are even worse scum."

That was some deep stuff there, I thought, looking up at Kakashi with a newfound respect. "He's...he's pretty cool," I heard Naruto say behind me, and I nodded agreement. Maybe this guy wasn't so bad after all.

Kakashi nodded. "The training ends here. Everyone passes! Team 7 will be doing missions starting tomorrow!"

I pumped my fist. "All right!"

Sakura looked ecstatic. "Yes, sir!"

Sasuke was Sasuke, though with that smirk again. Stupid smirk...

And Naruto? He was back to his enthusiastic self again."I did it!" he crowed. "I'm a ninja, ninja, ninja!"

"Let's go home," Kakashi told us, and we all got up and followed him out of the training grounds. First stop for me: a hot shower. Then maybe...why did I feel like I was forgetting something?

"Hey, you guys! Gah, I KNEW it was going to end like this! Untie the freaking rope!"

Oh, yeah- Naruto. I thought about going back, but decided against it. That was enough teamwork for one day.

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><p><strong>Yay, she did it! We all knew she would, but still. About the robot thing in the beginning: if you look at Sasuke's face in canon as he (strides up like he owns the place) approaches, he doesn't look a BIT tired. He just looks Sasuke. What is he, too cool for exhaustion? <strong>

**And that's not all: I was playing Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 (c) and when I was Sasuke, the story scrolls scattered all over the place when I was Naruto lined up in neat little rows for His Highness to stroll through. How does that even happen? **

**Oh and Konoha was no longer an option to travel to- it wasn't even on the map. I thought that was hilarious. Oh, Sasuke.**

**I digress. Go, find Kairi...and sorry for what I did to her.**

**So what did Axel do to her? O.o I'm digressing again!**

**You know the drill! Questions? Comments? Concerns? Please review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**I'm updating again- yay! Shall we see how Suten copes with the morons she is forced to call her teammates and sensei? What exciting mission will they be on now? Without further ado, the next chapter of I Hate Uchiha!**

**Waitwaitwait- I own Suten, and that's about it. Sorry for that last bit of ado ^^'**

**On with the story!**

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><p>"Sasuke: Point B."<p>

"Sakura: Point C."

"Suten: Point D."

...

...

"Naruto: Point A."

"You're slow, Naruto. Okay, Team 7...the target has moved! After it!"

...

"Okay, he's there."

"What's the distance to the target?"

"5 meters. I'm ready to go."

"I am, too."

"Me, too."

"What they said."

"Okay...GO!"

And as one, we all lunged, eyes fixed on our sole target should it attempt escape. This target was none other than-

"Gotcha!" Naruto had managed to grab the now screeching and wildly flailing...cat.

Yes. C-A-T, cat.

"Make sure it's the target," Kakashi reminded us from the comlinks. "Does it have the ribbon on its ear?"

"It's the target for sure," Sasuke confirmed, not even looking as Naruto was violently mauled by the obviously angry kitty.

"Good. Operation: Capture Tora the Lost Pet is complete."

"And not a minute too soon," I added, reaching up to undo the comlink before Naruto had the chance to tell us just what he thought of this so called 'mission'.

"Isn't there a more exciting mission we can work on?"

Too late.

**-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-**

"Ohh, my cute widdle Tora-chan! I was so worried about you!"

I looked on in disgust as some rich lady with enough blubber to give Choji a run for his money- Madame Shijimi?- proceeded to crush the cat we had worked so hard to recapture.

Naruto, who seemed to have recovered from his previous endeavors, snickered. "That stupid cat's getting what it deserves!"

"Better it than me," I murmured, wincing as a long red nail embedded itself in the cat's skin.

"No wonder he ran away," Sakura added, looking sorry for it.

Sasuke, of course, said nothing.

The Hokage cleared his throat to get our attention, rustling a sheet of paper. "Now then, Team 7's next mission...babysitting the Chief Counselor's three year old..."

"I don't do kids," I said under my breath.

"Grocery shopping at the neighboring town..."

"I don't do other people's shopping."

"Helping dig up potatoes at..."

"NO!"

Ah. I had been wondering when Naruto was going to open his big mouth. "And I don't do yardwork," I added.

"No thanks to all of those! I wanna do a more exciting mission!"

"Being mauled by a cat isn't exciting enough?" I questioned.

He ignored me. "Pick something else!"

I sighed. He could have said it a little better, but the kid had a valid point.

Then Iruka-sensei decided to butt in. "Idiot! You're still a genin! Everyone needs to start with the easy missions to gain experience!"

"But we've only been doing stupid missions lately!"

I was about to add something, but Kakashi punched Naruto in the back of the head to shut him up, so I decided not to.

Apparently Iruka-sensei had nothing else to add, because then the Hokage decided to try his hand at setting Naruto straight. "Naruto. It seems I need to explain to you about missions."

No. Please, no. Don't monologue.

"Now, see here. Many clients come to this village every day..."

"So, what're you guys having for lunch?" I asked, not really wanting to hear whatever the Hokage had to say.

Surprisingly, nobody seemed to object. "I was actually thinking about going down to the barbecue house later," Kakashi offered. "I'm not a fan of it, but I don't feel like cooking today."

Sasuke nodded. "Hn. Onigri and tomatoes."

"Sounds great!" Sakura chirped, whether she thought so or not. "I'm actually on a diet, but if you wouldn't mind having a guest over, Sasuke-kun..."

"Oh, for crying out loud," I groaned, shaking my head. "Anywhoo, what about you, Naruto?"

Naruto hmmed. "Well, I had tonkotsu ramen yesterday, so I was thinking miso ramen today..."

"PAY ATTENTION!"

Whoops. The Hokage caught on. Kakashi rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Sorry about that..."

Naruto hmphed. "You always lecture me like that, Jii-chan! But I'm not the kid who used to pull pranks anymore!"

"Oh, you're not, are you?" I questioned.

"No, I'm not!" And to show how mature and manly he was, he turned away, folded his arms and pouted.

Iruka and the Hokage chuckled. The last time I heard a chuckle like that was the bell test. And we all know how well that went. Never, my friends, trust the evil chuckle.

"All right. If you insist..."

Oh, snap. Here it comes.

"I will allow you to take on a C-ranked mission. It's to escort a certain person."

It's really coming now. Wait for it...wait for it...

"Really!" Naruto just bounced right back at that. "Who, who? A feudal lord? A princess?"

"Don't get so hasty. Would you come in, please?"

We all turned towards the door. I was still waiting for the sick, sick catch to this whole C-rank mission to sink in. It opened, revealing...

"What? They're all kids!"

A drunkard. I wrinkled my nose in disgust at the undisguised brown bottle clutched in his hand. It was an old, drunk geezer. As we watched, he put the bottle to his lips and took a long drink, sake dribbling out of the sides of his mouth and into his shaggy gray beard.

Was it possible to still take the babysitting mission?

He finally finished drinking and leaned against the door, looking us all over. "Don't tell me the little one with the stupid look on his face is really a ninja."

Naruto started cracking up. "Who's the little one with the idiotic look on his face?"

Sakura, Sasuke, and I traded glances, and stepped closer for a quick height comparison.

Tallest was Sasuke...then me...then Sakura...and shortest of all...

"I'M GONNA KILL YOU!"

Kakashi held the newly enraged Naruto back by the collar of his jumpsuit, like a dog on a short leash. "No killing the man you're assigned to protect."

The drunk geezer finished another drink- would that bottle ever run out?- and said, "I am Tazuna, the bridge building expert. Once I have returned to my country, I expect all of you to guard me with your lives while I finish the bridge."

Seriously. Babysitting, why not? Wasn't I just saying how I loved kids?

**-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-**

The second we cleared the village gates, Naruto turned around and struck some sort of victory pose. "All right! Let's go!"

"Not that I'm really surprised by now," I asked, "but why are you so excited about this?"

He immediately started looking around gleefully. "Because I've never been outside the village before. Hehehe..."

I wasn't surprised when Tazuna pointed a finger at him and said, "Hey, will a kid like this really be capable of this mission?"

Kakashi just laughed. "Don't worry. I, a Jonin, will be accompanying you."

"And you're not wrong," I whispered. "I wouldn't trust my life to him, either."

"Hey, geezer!" Naruto yelled, stabbing a finger right back. "Don't underestimate ninjas! I'm a great ninja! I'm the elite ninja who will recieve the title of Hokage one day! The name is Uzumaki Naruto! Remember it!"

He took another drink. I was really tempted to smack the bottle out of his hand. "Hokage are powerful and wise. You are puny and brainless. The day you become Hokage, I'll sprout wings and fly."

Okay. That was an epic burn. I was saving that one.

"Urusai! I'll do whatever it takes to become a Hokage! And when I do, everyone will have to start respecting me!"

He snorted. "I sure won't. That is, even if you become a Hokage."

I watched as Kakashi had to hold Naruto back again. "I told you: we protect our clients, not kill them."

This was going to be a long trip.

**Hmm...This one felt rather short...probably because nothing much happened in it? Oh well!**

**Team 7, escorting Tazuna to the Land of Waves! Now we're gonna get serious!**

**...that was my fail attempt at sounding like Naruto. Or maybe it wasn't such a fail after all...**

**Questions? Comments? Concerns? Please review!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Yeah, it's probably about time I update again...sorry, I got sick, then I went to MomoCon, then I had a sudden urge for all things Wonderland(which I'm still riding out)...but I'm here now, right? Right?**

**So here's your chappie! Journey to the Land of Waves, where Team 7 meets their first enemy! And Sasuke and Suten butting heads, because I love writing that so much. Except it doesn't go well for Suten this time...le GASP!**

**So anyway I own Suten, and...yeah I got nothing. Enjoy!**

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><p>It was peaceful as our little group trekked along. The birds were singing, the trees were leafy and green, the sky was clear. A little squirrel scampered along our path, and I found myself watching it as it fluffed its tail, then ran past a puddle on the ground. I wondered where it was-<p>

Wait a minute. A puddle? I wasn't one to track the weather, but I was pretty sure it hadn't rained in a while. And even if I'd somehow missed it raining, we should've passed other puddles, too...

"Something wrong, Suten?"

I realized I had stopped and had been staring at the puddle, and Kakashi was now watching me with a mildly interested expression. Everyone else was giving me weird looks.

What everyone else thought wasn't important, but should I tell Kakashi? I debated before deciding against it. It was just a puddle, after all. And if it was anything more, he would've probably noticed it already. "Nah, it's nothing."

"If you're sure," he said amiably, and we all walked on.

We didn't get far.

Two creepy looking ninjas jumped out of the puddle I had just overlooked. Before any of us could think, spiked chains wrapped around Kakashi, holding him down. With one sharp tug- the chains sliced him to bloody pieces.

The world blurred around me and I felt sick to my stomach. Kakashi couldn't have been taken down that easy...right?

The others' screams snapped me back to reality, and I realized Naruto was the next in danger. I headed in his direction, but- wouldn't you know it- Sasuke beat me to it, pinning the deadly chains to a tree with a shuriken, then adding a kunai in the center to hold it. He then landed on their arms and kicked them in the face. If this hadn't broken the chains and freed them, I would have allowed this. As it was...

"Uchiha, you idiot, you see what you did? This isn't a talent show!"

One of the nin headed for me, Tazuna, and Sakura. Seeing as Sakura was too scared to even move, I grabbed her and stuck her in front of the bridge builder, then stood in front of her as a primary line of defense, getting into a defensive stance and keeping close watch on the nin as he got closer...closer...

And then the Uchiha clan symbol blocked my view.

The Uchiha clan symbol? Was I going delusional in what could be my last hours? And of all things to imagine, why did it have to be-

Then I noticed the blue surrounding the symbol, and everything made sense. Ohh. I was staring at the back of Sasuke's shirt.

Sasuke was standing in front of me, arms outstretched, preparing to take the blow.

Before I could fully wrap my mind around this, the enemy ninja was jerked away from us just in time. I frowned. The rest of the team was here, so either Naruto had toughened up, or...

Kakashi, fully intact, beamed at us through his mask, arms wrapped around the necks of the two enemy ninja. "Yo."

...Thank goodness. He was the only thing stopping us all from brutally murdering each other. Or me from brutally murdering everyone else.

"Nice work, Sasuke and Suten," he went on, coming towards us still toting the nin. "Very smooth. You too, Sakura."

The praise made me feel warm and special. I fought a small blush, looking away and rubbing the back of my neck embarrassedly. "Well, you know...it was nothing."

"You didn't get hurt, did you? Scaredy cat..."

The embarrassment disappeared as I heard Sasuke teasing Naruto. Had us being in a life or death situation had no affect on him? But that reminded me...

While Kakashi occupied himself with Naruto, I stabbed a finger in his direction. "Uchiha. Do you have a death wish?"

He looked at me over his shoulder. "What are you talking about?"

Oh, now he was playing dumb. "Oh, I think you know what. Back there...why'd you jump in front of me?"

He gave me an are-you-normally-this-stupid look. "In case you forgot, you're my teammate. Teammates are supposed to protect each other."

Yes, which was why I got in front of Sakura. I folded my arms. "I didn't need you to protect me. I was doing fine by myself."

He scoffed. "Che. Ungrateful. For all you know, I could have saved your life." A smirk appeared on his face. "I think I deserve a thank you."

...he had to be kidding.

There were two things I would never give Uchiha Sasuke: an apology (me regretting I had done something wrong to him) and a thank you (me admitting he had done something right to me). I shot him a glare. "In your dreams, Uchiha."

I would have gotten away with this, too, except Kakashi noticed what was going on and intervened. "Suten. Much as I know you hate Sasuke, a shinobi must know when to swallow their pride."

"She may have trouble swallowing all that," Sasuke commented, still smirking.

"So says you," I shot back.

"Suten," Kakashi said warningly.

I heaved a sigh, gathering myself together to prepare the difficult feat. Grudgingly promising myself this would never happen again, I bowed and ground out, "Arigato, Uchiha."

"Accepted."

I wanted to punch him so hard right now…

"Good. Now how about we all just get along, okay? Oh, and Tazuna-san…" He looked over his shoulder at the bridge builder. "I'd like a word with you."

**-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-**

We gathered around the nin now tied to a tree. I couldn't help thinking they weren't as scary now.

"These guys are Chunin-class ninja from the Hidden Mist Village," Kakashi informed us. "They are ninjas known to keep fighting no matter what the cost."

Ooh, scary.

One of them stirred. "How were you able to detect our action?"

Kakashi shook his head. "It hasn't rained in a few days, and it's sunny today, so a water puddle shouldn't exist. To be honest, I wasn't sure it was anything to be worried about until one of my students noticed it."

Ha! I stuck my tongue out at them. They growled at me.

Then Tazuna spoke up. "Why'd you let the kids fight if you knew something was up?"

"Well, if I was up to it, I could have killed these two in the blink of an eye."

If he'd said that the first day we met him, I would have burst out laughing.

"But I needed to know who their target was."

"What do you mean?" Tazuna asked, although I wasn't really sure why. It was pretty obvious what he meant.

Kakashi explained anyway. "In other words, were they after you, the bridge builder? Or us, the ninja squad?" Then he gave him a stern look. "You never said anything about you being targeted by ninja. Your request was to be protected from gangs and robbers. This is a mission that's above a B rank."

Wait, what?

"Our job was to support and guard you until you completed the bridge. If ninja are our enemy, this mission would have been an expensive B rank. It looks like you have your reasons, but it only troubles us if you lie in your requests details. This wasn't part of the mission."

Tazuna looked a little guilty now. And he should- sending inexperienced 12 year olds to their possible death. Cheapskate, drunkard, good for nothing…

"This mission is out of our league," Sakura said worriedly. "Let's quit. We need anesthesia to get the poison out of Naruto besides."

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but she's got a good point there," I pointed out. "Naruto kinda needs to see a doctor."

Kakashi thought for a minute, before agreeing. "This sure is a burden…Let's go back to the village to cure Naruto."

Apparently all this was a bit much for Naruto to take. I didn't even see the kunai knife in his hand until he stabbed it into the back of his poisoned hand.

"Are you crazy?" I screamed at him. "What do you think you're doing?"

He didn't seem to hear me, instead taking a step back. "Why am I so different?" he asked himself through gritted teeth. "Why am I always…darn it!"

"Naruto, what are you doing?" Sakura asked, a little freaked out at Naruto's emo moment.

"I should be stronger," he continued. "I've accomplished lots of missions… and I've practiced techniques every day…"

I couldn't help feeling a little sorry for him now, unusual for me as it was. He tried so hard…

Blood started dripping from his hand onto the ground. "I'm never going to do something that will require someone to help me. I'm never going to be frightened and try to back out of things. I'm not gonna lose to Sasuke. I vow that to this pain in my left hand. I'm gonna protect this old man with this kunai knife! The mission is still on!" When he turned around, he was grinning despite his pain. And for some reason…I couldn't help believing he would do everything he said.

I sighed, shaking my head. Thanking Sasuke, agreeing with Sakura, and believing in Naruto…this was a very out of character day for me.

Kakashi looked as if he was trying to find the best way to phrase something. "Naruto, it's great how you took the poisoned blood out so spiritedly…but if you lose any more blood, you're going to die."

It was amazing how quickly Naruto's face changed after that. He started sweating bullets, and his bloody hand started to shake. But at least he wasn't freaking out, right?

Kakashi crouched down next to him with a smile. "Good idea to stop the bleeding now. Seriously."

And then Naruto freaked out.

"Nonononono! I can't die like this!"

"Let me see your hand," Kakashi told him, and I sighed as Sakura started berating Naruto for some reason or another, as Naruto whined and went on about he didn't want to die. We were right back where we started.

But hey. I could deal with these idiots for a while longer.

...nah, probably not.

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><p><strong>End scene! But Suten has a point: what IS she doing thanking Sasuke, agreeing with Sakura, and believing in Naruto? And worst of all, thanking SASUKE?<strong>

**Though that was against her will, so maybe that doesn't count...what do you think? Does that apology count towards her record? Or not?**

**Questions? Comments? Concerns? Please review! :D**


	6. Chapter 6

**Yeah, it's probably about time I update again...I don't even have a good excuse for this being so late. So how's about as compensation I give you...TWO CHAPTERS? Because really that is what I owe you lovely people.**

**So here's your first chappie! Boat ride to the Land of Waves, where we hear about Gato, who sells cats! Or not. **

**I own Suten, and...yeah I got nothing. Enjoy!**

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><p>I sighed for the tenth or twentieth time, chin resting on the side of the boat, hand trailing in the water as I stared down into the depths of the blue-gray sea. Because of the thick white mist, the boat and the people in it were the only really interesting things I could see, and because I refused to stare at them for that long, I resolved to stare at the sea.<p>

But I was so BORED.

"The mist is so thick," Sakura noticed intelligently. "I can't see what's ahead…" I entertained the thought of grabbing her by her bubblegum pink hair and shoving her face under the water for making another ridiculously obvious comment.

"We should be able to see the bridge soon," I heard, and I immediately thought, YES. I was ready to get off this thing, right now. I squinted into the mist, and bit back the urge to jump for joy as the bridge finally loomed into view. Sure, it was obviously a work in progress, I acknowledged as I looked up, but it was the bridge. Which meant we were almost there.

Then Naruto decided to blow up my eardrums. "It's huge!"

The guy rowing the boat glared at him. "Hey, be quiet!" he snapped. "We're using this boat to hide in the mist. That's why I'm rowing instead of using the engine. In other words, if we get caught, we'll be in trouble."

"So keep your mouth shut," I added to Naruto, who nodded fearfully, clapping his hands over his mouth.

Kakashi apparently decided this was as good a time as any to continue where he'd left off with the bridge builder. "Tazuna-san. Before the boat gets to the pier, there's something I need to ask you: the identity of the ones who are after you, and why they are after you. Or we can call this mission off once we reach shore, Tazuna-san."

Ooh, finally something interesting was happening. I immediately listened in.

Tazuna didn't say anything for a long time. Then he began, "It looks like I have to tell you the real story. That is, I would like for you to hear my story. As you said, this mission is most likely out of your job description. An extremely terrible man is after my life."

"An extremely terrible man?" Kakashi questioned.

"Yes."

"Who is it?"

"You should all have at least heard of the name…marine transport billionare, Gato."

Hmm…nope, not ringing a bell.

At least Kakashi looked like he'd heard of him. "Gato? You mean the one from Gato Company? He's one of the richest men in this world!"

No, I think he meant the one who sells cats.

"Yes," Tazuna agreed, ignoring Naruto who was now whining to know who Gato was, "he is the president of a marine transport company on the outside…but underground, he uses gangs and ninjas to smuggle drugs and contraband goods. He also does nasty jobs like takeovers of other companies and countries."

I was seriously wishing it was the Gato who sold cats now. But Tazuna kept on going.

"A year ago, he set his sights on Wave Country. He entered this country using violence and wealth as his shield, and he quickly took over the island's sea traffic and transportation. On an island like Wave Country, controlling the sea means ruling over the wealth, politics, and people of this island." He looked up. "But the one thing that Gato is afraid of…is the completion of the bridge that has been under construction for quite some time."

Ah. It was all starting to come together now. "So because you're the bridge builder," I clarified, "you're now in his way."

"Then those ninjas were sent by Gato," Sasuke added, apparently piecing things together at the same time I did. Interesting.

Naruto looked like he needed more help figuring it out.

"But I don't understand," Kakashi voiced. "He's a dangerous man that uses ninjas. Why did you hide that fact when you came to us?"

Tazuna looked down. "The Wave Country is really a very poor one. Even the feudal lord doesn't have much money. And we don't have much, either. We don't have the money to request an expensive B rank or above mission. If you quit your mission after I land, I'll be killed for sure…" Then his tone changed. "But there's no need for you to blame yourselves. Only my cute eight year old grandson will cry and cry and cry some more. And my daughter will hold a grudge against Konoha ninja and live a lonely life. But it's not your fault."

My eye twitched. I would not feel guilty. I would not feel guilty. I would not…too late. This guy was good.

Kakashi looked deep in thought, flicking at his hitai-ate. But I knew he just felt guilty, too. "I guess it can't be helped," he said finally. "We will continue escorting you."

"That's good to hear!"

Forget about his family. I wanted to strangle him.

"We're almost there," said the boat rowing guy.

I gave him a look. "You said that a few minutes ago."

He returned the look. "No, I said we'd be able to see the bridge soon. I'm not dropping you off under the bridge, you know." He then looked at Tazuna. "Tazuna, it looks like we haven't been spotted yet."

"Thanks."

We crossed under a smaller bridge lit by tiny orange lights on the ceiling. I stared up at the little lights until a big bright white light at the end of the tunnel blinded me.

Wait, light at the end of the tunnel? When did I die? Before I could panic, we came out the other side.

A beautiful village awaited us. The water was now blue and clear, the houses were clean, there were trees with roots growing into the water…and there was no mist so I could see everything. "Wow," I breathed.

The boat stopped at a pier, and we all got off. "This is as far as I go," said boat rowing guy. "Later."

"Sure," Tazuna replied. "Thanks a lot." I hoped that wasn't all we got when this mission was over and done with.

The boat rowing guy revved his motor and drove away, and Tazuna turned to us again. "All right, take me home safely."

There were a lot of things any of us could have said to him. But only Kakashi said something, and all Kakashi said was, "Fine," so nothing else really had to be said.

Oh, we were taking him home. But we didn't have to like it.

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><p><strong>We're officially in the Land of Waves! Sorry if this chappie was a little short, but it was necessary! Don't worry: next chappie is where all the action is! Because a certain rogue nin is there ;)<strong>

** See you then!**


	7. Chapter 7

**And this is Chapter 7! The second in the two chapter deal I owe you guys! And now we have some drama! And some Sasuke/Suten interaction(though what the nature of it is I will not say). Soon I will start deviating from the plot more and adding my own scenes, but until then, please bear with me! Please?**

**Enjoy this chapter! And I am proud to say that I now have rights to Naruto and everything in it- *phone rings* One sec. Hello? What do you mean, he revoked my rights? So I don't own anything? Not even Zabuza and his thousand peaches? He does, too have peaches! It's in his name! Yes, he does! H-Hello? Hello!**

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><p>So far, this part of the mission was going off without a hitch. The forest reminded me a lot of the one outside Konoha. I immediately kept a lookout for puddles.<p>

Naruto randomly decided to run ahead, so our little group stopped for a moment to see what he was up to now. He looked around with a serious look on his face...then without warning launched a kunai knife into a bush. "There!"

I instantly tensed up, watching him carefully as he straightened up.

"Oh. It's just a mouse."

Just a mouse? "Not funny," I hissed, relaxing instantly.

"Stop showing off!" Sakura screeched, stabbing a finger in his direction. "There was nothing there!"

Even Kakashi had something to say. "Please, Naruto, don't use your kunai knives so abusively. It's dangerous."

Then Tazuna. "Hey, you dwarf! Don't scare us!"

Apparently a four way verbal beat down didn't faze Naruto at all. "I see someone hiding over there! No, over there! There!" He launched another kunai.

Immediately Sakura ran over and bashed him in the back of the head. "I said cut it out!"

He whined, rubbing his head. "But I really did sense someone..."

"Liar!"

I noticed Kakashi pushing into the bushes where Naruto had thrown his kunai. Coming over to see what he was looking at, I was greeted with the sight of an effectively traumatized white rabbit.

"Naruto! Look what you've done!"

"Bunny!" Apparently Naruto and Sakura had noticed, too. Naruto immediately ran over and started hugging the bunny, apologizing over and over to it. "Sorry! I didn't mean it! Sorry, rabbit!"

I frowned. Wasn't white a natural rabbit's color in the winter? Something about blending in with its environment. Either this rabbit hadn't gotten the memo, or...

My eyes widened. Wait a second...

"Get down!"

We all hit the deck as a huge blade came spinning through the air and sunk deep into a tree. I watched the bunny hop away into the grass. "Never trust a bunny," I mumbled, getting up, before realizing there was someone on the blade.

He was muscular, with gray skin and short black hair. He wore a bandage mask over his face. A Kiri hitai-ate was tied sideways on his head, and he wore blue-gray pants with black and white arm and leg warmers.

"Oh, my, my."

Kakashi-sensei walked forward, not taking his eyes off the mysterious man. "You're Momochi Zabuza, the rogue nin of Kirigakure."

…Momochi? Didn't that mean a thousand peaches? No, best not to mention this to him: no sense in angering a guy who looked like he could kill you in 300 ways.

Naruto, being an idiot and wanting nothing more than to show up Sasuke, charged forward to fight the dangerous rogue nin. Charging again. Seriously. Luckily, Kakashi stopped him. "You're in the way. Stay back, everyone."

Naruto didn't get it. "Why?"

"He's way different from the guys we met before. If he's our enemy..." Kakashi's hand reached up to the hitai-ate always draped over his other eye. "I can't win like this."

It seemed this Zabuza knew Kakashi, too. "I'm guessing you're Kakashi, the Sharingan User."

That seemed to freak Sasuke out a bit.

"Sorry, but I'll need you to hand over the geezer."

Of course, if it had freaked Sasuke out, I couldn't help getting a little curious. Sharingan, huh? A new trick Kakashi had up his sleeve?

"Everyone, get into manji formation," Kakashi ordered. "Protect Tazuna-san. Don't join the battle. To not interfere with the battle is teamwork."

I wanted to point out that it really wasn't. But the words died as Kakashi lifted his headband, revealing a long scar over the other closed eye.

When the eye opened, the iris was bright red.

"Fight me."

I stared at the feverish red eye in shock. There were three black comma shaped marks ringing the iris. What happened to it? Was it some kind of curse?

Zabuza didn't seem fazed. "I'm honored that I can see the Sharingan I've heard so much about."

Wait...that was the Sharingan? But it couldn't just serve to look freaky, could it? Otherwise, Kakashi probably wouldn't have it covered all the time. "Well, okay...but what is Sharingan?" I asked with a frown.

"Sharingan..."

To my surprise, it was neither Kakashi nor Zabuza that answered me, but Sasuke. He still looked slightly unnerved as he spoke. "The eye creates it, and it is the power that the pupil generates. Those who use doujutsu are said to have eye powers that can see through all genjutsu, and ninjutsu, and cancel their effects. Sharingan is one of the various types of eyes that those doujutsu users possess. But that's not the only ability the Sharingan possesses."

Wait, there was more?

"Correct," Zabuza agreed. "That's not all. The scary part is that Sharingan can understand how an opponent's technique works, and copy it."

And our sensei had that? I frowned. More importantly, how did Sasuke know so much about it anyway? I turned to ask him, but mist had started rolling in from the water, making it increasingly difficult to see.

"When I was in Kirigakure's assassination squad, your information was listed in the bingo book I carried asking for your capture."

Kakashi was in a bingo book?

"It also noted this: the man who copied more than 1000 techniques. Kakashi the copy nin."

I was effectively stunned. So not only did our sensei have this supposedly amazing Sharingan, he was in a bingo book and had copied over a thousand jutsus? Were all Jonin this amazing or was it just ours? I hoped it was the latter.

"Wow!" Naruto cheered. Sasuke was giving Kakashi a suspicious look now. "What's eating you?" I asked so no one else could hear. "Angsty because someone's stronger than you?"

He shot me a glare, but it wasn't as intense as the ones he usually gave me. "No. Sharingan is a special trait that appears in only a limited amount of people in the Uchiha clan."

I realized what he was getting at. "You don't think he's..."

"I don't know. His name's Hatake, but…"

Zabuza lowered into a crouch. "Let's cut the chit-chat here. I have to kill that geezer right away."

Okay, Tazuna was a pain, but we couldn't just let him die after coming this far. The four of us immediately got into manji formation around him with kunai knifes out, leaving Kakashi to deal with Zabuza.

Zabuza noticed this and straightened. "But, Kakashi, it seems I have to defeat you first." Before anyone could say anything, he tore his blade from the tree and shot off somewhere. Everyone started looking for him.

Naruto spotted him first. "He's over there!"

Sakura got a closer look. "And he's on top of the water?" she added in a shocked tone.

On top of the water was an understatement. Vaporized water was swirling around Zabuza like a funnel as he held some sort of chakra gathering stance. He looked dead at Kakashi.

'Suiton: Kirigakure no Jutsu'.

With a swirl of mist, he disappeared. The only thing left was a leaf floating to the water's surface.

"H-he disappeared!" Naruto gasped.

"No duh," I muttered, gripping my kunai tighter and preparing for the worst.

Kakashi walked up, eliciting a cry of "Sensei!" from Sakura. "He'll try to eliminate me first, but…"

"Why are you so calm about that?" I asked, agitation overcoming my growing worry.

Sakura- though I hate to admit it- asked a more important question. "What is he?" she asked fearfully.

"Momochi Zabuza," Kakashi told us. "He was in Kirigakure's ANBU, and was known for his 'silent killing techniques'."

"S-silent?" Naruto stammered.

"Just as the name implies, it's a killing technique that's executed in a flash and carried out in absolute silence. It's possible that you'll be dead before you realize it."

Yes, Kakashi. Tell the rookie genin they could die any second now. Wonderful idea.

"And I can't use my Sharingan to its full potential," he added. "So don't let your guard down. But, if you fail, you're only going to die."

"How does this not bother you?" I yelled. "And stop telling us things we don't need to hear! If you scare us, we'll only let our guard down more!" My nerves were already fraying from the simple waiting- Kakashi was not helping at ALL. This thickening suspense was killing me.

"The mist is getting thicker!" Naruto pointed out. Huh. So it wasn't just the suspense.

"Wave Country is surrounded by the ocean," Tazuna pointed out, "so a mist often emerges."

"Yeah, but how often do you get a mist that can possibly kill you?" I asked.

He paused. "Not often. Point taken."

By now the mist was so thick that Kakashi disappeared from view. I felt incredibly weak and defenseless without him there. Any second now, I expected to feel sharp blade tearing at my throat. Or maybe I wouldn't even feel it at all…

"Eight points."

Zabuza's voice came from out of the mist. I hoped that by pinpointing where he was I would stop slowly spiraling into a state of panic, but the voice seemed to come from everywhere.

"Larynx, spine, lungs, liver, jugular vein, collarbone, kidney, and heart. Now…which vital organ do you want to get struck at?"

He was letting us choose which way we wanted to die. So not the liver or the kidney- I didn't want to be gutted like a fish. Not the larynx- I at least wanted to be able to scream. So that left- wait, why was I actually considering the options?

Suddenly a large blast of chakra blew away some of the mist surrounding us, and I could see Kakashi again. He was charging his chakra. He'd definitely need it.

And then I felt it.

This massive killing intent…I felt like if I even so much as twitched a finger, someone would see me, and that was it. But I wanted that to be it- just so something would happen. Just so the agonizing waiting would end. I was going insane from waiting to die.

But no…I wasn't going to stay here like everyone else until I ended up dead. I could take my own life…I'd do it now. I remembered the kunai knife in my hand and shakily brought it up to my throat. I couldn't do this anymore…I just couldn't-

"Suten. Sasuke."

I froze at Kakashi's voice. Glancing over, my eyes met Sasuke's and I realized that he was in my same position. Did he feel the same way I did?

"Don't worry. I'll protect the four of you with my life." He turned his head to smile at us reassuringly. "I won't let anyone on my team die."

The panic eased a little, and I exhaled. Somehow after all he'd put us through, I couldn't help believing in him, just a little bit.

"I don't know about that."

Far too late I realized Zabuza's voice wasn't coming from the mist, but right behind me. Was this it?

"This is the end."

His giant blade swung towards Tazuna as Kakashi dashed towards us, kunai in hand. For one agonizing second I thought he wouldn't make it in time and we were all royally screwed, but then Kakashi sunk the kunai into Zabuza's gut, giving us all time to get back.

"Liver," I muttered without thinking.

Sasuke gave me an Are-you-kidding-me look.

"What? Look, 8 points, remember?"

He sighed. "Idiot..."

It seemed we were no longer suicide buddies and were back to hating each other's guts again.

It took me a while to realize that the liquid spilling out of Zabuza's liver and pooling on the ground was clear and not dark red. "Water clone," I realized. Then I saw a dark shape materializing out of the fog. "Sensei, behind you!"

'Zabuza' turned into water, while the real one swung his sword. "Die!"

And Kakashi sliced in half.

Only to turn into water.

My first thought was, 'Again? Really?' But my second was, 'Wait…did Kakashi already know Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu? Or…don't tell me he copied it in the mist?'

Kakashi reappeared behind the stunned Zabuza, holding a kunai knife to his neck. "Larynx," I noted.

"Quit it."

I stuck out my tongue at Sasuke, who glared at me.

"Don't move," Kakashi told Zabuza, drawing attention back to himself. "This is the end."

I found myself hoping he meant it.

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><p><strong>And this is the end of that chapter! Will Kakashi actually kill Zabuza? Will Sasuke ever figure out why Kakashi has Sharingan? (Or a question you guys actually don't know the answer to) Will Suten ever stop identifying kill points? Tune in next time to, I Hate Uchiha!<strong>

**Questions? Comments? Concerns? Please review!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Looky here, Chapter 8! After I got a review telling me to update so you could find out if Suten stopped listing kill points, I worked for hours to finish this and get it to you! I'm out of my prewritten chapters so it's all from scratch now, baby!**

**This chapter has lots more Suten/Sasuke interaction! (Hopefully) lots more humor! And it's a whopping almost 5000 words- which were not easy to type! So enjoy, because my fingers are getting blisters!**

**I own Suten and that's about it...but don't worry, once I save up money to get to Japan...**

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><p>I found myself relaxing slightly, in spite of myself. Now that Kakashi had this guy at a stalemate, this battle was as good as over. But no- Zabuza appeared behind Kakashi again. "I'm not that easy to defeat," he growled, and the overgrown butcher knife swung towards Kakashi's torso. Our sensei managed to duck this, but the sword stuck into the ground and Zabuza used the momentum to kick him away like a playground ball, sending him careening into the water. He then grabbed the sword and dashed in for what was going to be some kind of baseball like move, from what I could tell. But he suddenly skidded to a stop, and looking closer, I could see why. Kakashi had had the presence of mind to toss those ground spikes(what were they called? Caltrops?) to buy himself a little time. "How idiotic," Zabuza scoffed, and backflipped into the water.<p>

"Sensei!" Naruto screamed.

"He seems pretty adept at substitutions," I noted, my gaze trained on the water.

"His hand-to-hand combat skill is good, too," Sasuke added, and when my eyes flickered over to him I saw he had an intense expression on his face.

"Uchiha?"

"Yeah?"

"Quit agreeing with me. It's starting to creep me out."

"I'm not agreeing with you. You're stealing my line of thought."

Just then, Kakashi's head finally broke the surface of the water. He seemed to be having trouble getting out, but spared a second to fix us with a warning look. "Suten. Sasuke. Focus."

I opened my mouth to explain to him that Sasuke had started it by agreeing with me again and therefore upsetting the delicate balance of our natural rivalry. But I was cut off by Zabuza dashing behind our sensei, seemingly from out of nowhere, and weaving fast handsigns. That couldn't be good.

"Idiot," he sneered. 'Suiton: Suirou no Jutsu.'

A giant bubble of water appeared, encasing Kakashi like a hamster in a hamster ball. Except the hamster would be able to roll around in the hamster ball, and considering Zabuza had his hand in the bubble, it was clear Kakashi was going nowhere. That and the hamster would have more fun. But I digress.

Zabuza chuckled behind his bandage mask. "You fell for it," he taunted. "This is a special prison that you can't escape from. You give me a hard time when you're moving."

A part of my mind wondered what would happen if Kakashi just stabbed the hand that was in the bubble with him. Then again if that was all it took, everyone would do it and it wouldn't be a special, inescapable prison.

"Now, then, Kakashi," he continued as if he had all the time in the world, "I'm going to finish you off later." Then he turned to us, and the look in his eyes sent a chill down my spine. "First, I'm going to get rid of them."

I swallowed. No, that's okay, he really didn't have to.

'Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu.'

Shoot. I found myself taking a step back as a water clone rose from the ground like a reanimated corpse. Our apparently powerful sensei couldn't handle this guy, and now he was coming after us comparatively wimpy genin? I think I had a right to be a little afraid here. A small part of my mind wondered whether to be relieved or insulted that he was only coming after us with a water clone.

The Zabuza clone snickered at us. "The four of you have hitai-ate on as if you think you're ninja. But ninja refers to someone who has gone through numerous life and death situations."

Hmm, first the ambush in Konoha, and now this…were we on our way to counting as ninja to him yet?

"In other words…you can call yourselves ninja when you appear in my bingo book."

So that was a no.

He made a one handed sign. "You three aren't ninja," he finished darkly, before the mist thickened to swallow him up again.

I took another step back, raising my kunai knife. "Okay, breathe," I whispered to myself. "Nothing to worry about, you've just got a deadly assassin hiding in the mist somewhere and your sensei has no way to help you. Everything's fine…"

And everything was fine, until the deadly assassin appeared out of nowhere and kicked Naruto full in the (larynx) throat. The once hyperactive blonde slammed into the dirt, his hard-won hitai-ate clattering to the ground- to be driven into the ground by Zabuza's foot.

"You're just kids."

"Naruto!" Sakura screamed, and even Sasuke looked thoroughly freaked out. I looked exactly as I felt: panicked but trying to remain calm. Trying and failing miserably. No, I wasn't even trying anymore.

"Everyone!"

Oh, thank goodness. Kakashi had a plan. Kakashi had to have some kind of plan. He wouldn't just leave us out to dry, right?

"Take Tazuna and run! You can't win against him!"

…what?

"He can't move as long as he has me trapped in this hydro-prison! He also won't be able to use his water clone once you get away from him! Run for now!"

Run? It would keep us alive, sure…but was that the kind of ninja I wanted to be? A coward? And besides, even if we ran, he'd just track us down anyway and without protection, we'd be doomed. If we wanted to have even the tiniest chance of surviving…we'd have to free Kakashi.

"We have to do it!"

…Sasuke had been reading my mind apparently. Suten no approve.

The Uchiha ran past me before I could remind him of our agreement to disagree(which is still agreeing, huh? Darn) and began throwing shuriken at Zabuza. Because the attack was so frontal, unplanned, and obvious, Zabuza basically batted them away with his giant sword. Even Sasuke wasn't that stupid…

Then again, perhaps he was. His 'plan' became clear to me as he jumped into the air, kunai held high in typical macho man stabbing position. "This is the spot!"

Zabuza didn't look worried. "Too easy." A large hand reached out and plucked Sasuke from the air. By the throat.

I gritted my teeth before charging- yes, charging- towards the missing nin. Like it or not, Sasuke was my teammate and I couldn't leave him in danger…but so help me, if I died for him-

Sasuke slammed into me at full force, effectively knocking me off my feet and sending me skidding into the ground just as Naruto had a minute before. So Zabuza thought it would be funny to throw him at me. Not funny at all.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura screeched, even more panicked now that it was her 'true love' that was suffering. And where was my name? I went to save her crush and got landed on, didn't that mean I at least deserved a "Suten!" or something?

Speaking of which. I tried to regain my breath, having had the wind knocked out of me, and winced as an elbow dug into my ribs. "Uchiha…"

He shifted, coughing a little. "Don't worry… I'm fine."

My eye twitched in annoyance. "I was going to say… you're heavy, get off me."

"…hn." He finally rolled off me, allowing my lungs some much needed air, and the two of us got to our feet.

"S-Sasuke and Suten got…"

I noticed Naruto- looking considerably younger without his hitai-ate- staring fearfully at Zabuza. "This is a Jonin," he whispered. "A real ninja…" His face grew even more panicked, and he turned to push off from the ground and run. And then he saw his bandaged hand.

His face turned somber, and almost immediately, I knew what was going through his mind. He was remembering that promise. The one he made in Konoha's woods after those nin attacked. The one where he swore to never run away because he was afraid, or lose to Sasuke… My eyes widened. "Naruto," I said in what I hoped was a cautioning voice, watching him carefully as he slowly got to his feet. "Let's think rationally here, don't go doing anything stupid…"

He charged.

"I said think rationally!" I screamed at him.

Sakura was tearing her bangs out. "Naruto! What are you doing?"

Sasuke just watched.

If there was any doubt as to how the scene would turn out, it was quickly resolved. Naruto came skidding back to us in a matter of seconds, face planted in the dirt. I barely even saw the punch. Sakura, of course, was first to rip into him. "What are you thinking, charging in like that on your own? Even Sasuke-kun is no match…"

I noticed something. "Sakura, shut up and look!"

Naruto was pushing himself up from the ground, back onto his knees. Clutched tightly in the hand he had made the promise wound on…was his hitai-ate. That was what he had been after?

"Hey…the no-brow there."

If this had been a less life-threatening time, I would have snickered at the appropriate nickname.

"Put this in your bingo book. The one who will become Hokage of Konohagakure one day…" He straightened and began retying his hitai-ate as we all watched. "He never backs down: his name is…" He flashed a confident look. "Uzumaki Naruto!"

Jeez…it was getting harder to think of him as just your ordinary idiot. Granted, he was still an idiot, but…I could safely say I had just the tiniest bit of respect for him now.

"Sasuke, Suten," he called, getting all of our attention. "Lend me your ears for a second."

"What do you want?" Sasuke questioned before I could say anything. But I heard some curiosity in his voice.

"I have a plan."

Sasuke stared at him for a moment, before scoffing. "I can't believe you want to work as a team."

"I can't believe you want me to work on a team with Uchiha," I added.

"Oh, come on!" A grin was on his face, but it was one of confidence and excitement. "Let's go wild!"

_**-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-**_

The three of us stood side by side, facing Zabuza down. Sakura had been left to guard Tazuna. Kakashi was watching us warily from inside his hamster ball of water.

The Zabuza clone had simply stood and watched us while Naruto explained his- admittedly clever- plan. I was certain he had decided to see how far our 'little plan' would get us before he killed us all off. "You seem to be pretty confident," he told us. "But do you even have a chance of winning?"

Five minutes ago, I would have said no. But now? Now we had at least one chance.

Kakashi didn't seem to think so. "What are you all doing? I told you to run away! The outcome of this battle was decided when I got caught! Run! Our mission was to protect Tazuna-san. Did you forget that?"

We all turned back to look at Tazuna. "Old man…" Naruto began.

Tazuna laughed humorlessly. "Don't worry, I caused all this trouble in the first place. I won't say that I want to survive no matter what. Sorry, everyone. Fight as much as you want."

Sasuke smirked as we all turned back. "That's how it is."

"Are you ready?" Naruto added.

Zabuza stared at us, apparently sizing us up. Then he did something I would never have expected from him.

He laughed. Not even chuckling- full blown laughter. When he finished, he looked us over again. "You sure don't learn, do you? Still pretending to be ninja? When I was your age, my hands were already soaked in blood." He stared at his hand, as if imagining the blood still there.

He'd killed people by the time he was twelve? My confidence wavered.

"The Demon Zabuza," Kakashi murmured.

It didn't go unnoticed. "Oh, looks like you've heard of me."

Kakashi began to explain to us. "A long time ago, Kirigakure was known as Chigiri, Village of the Bloody Mist."

That sounded like a setting for a horror movie. Heck, that could be the title for a horror movie.

"In that village, there was an obstacle that existed to become a ninja."

Zabuza looked interested. "So you also know about the final test there."

"The final test?" Naruto asked, and Zabuza began to chuckle. That stupid evil chuckle was ruining my life and I wanted the life ruining to stop.

"Hey, what is that 'final test'?" And I wanted to slam Naruto into the ground, because I really did not want to know…

He finally stopped laughing again, looking us in the eye. "Students killing each other."

I knew no good could come of an evil chuckle. That explained why his hands had been 'soaked in blood' at such an early age.

And he continued. "Friends who have eaten from the same pot are paired off and forced to fight each other…until one of them is killed. Friends that have helped each other, shared dreams with each other, competed with each other."

Kakashi took back over. "Ten years ago, Kirigakure had to go through a reformation. Because in the previous year, a monster appeared that finally decided it."

Sakura finally spoke up. "A reformation?"

Nobody bothered to answer. Again, if this had been a less serious time, I would have snickered.

"A reformation?" she repeated in a louder voice. "What did that monster do?" Now I wanted to slam her into the dirt, because this was another thing I didn't want to hear.

"A small boy who had not even gained the right to become a ninja…killed over 100 candidates that year without hesitation."

Three guesses who that happy little child was.

Zabuza was silent for a moment, before looking to the sky in remembrance. "That was fun."

Guessing time over. Without warning he appeared in front of us and elbowed Sasuke in the (liver) gut. Sasuke flew into the air and landed hard on his back. Before anyone could even scream his name, Zabuza followed him and jammed his elbow into stomach even harder. Blood spurted from Sasuke's mouth.

"Sasuke-kun!" Guess who.

Because apparently causing him to cough blood was not enough, Zabuza began digging his foot into Sasuke's gut, watching him squirm and gasp. It was then that I followed his body posture and saw he had a hand on his sword.

"You are not allowed to kill him, darn it!" I yelled, dashing towards Zabuza with kunai in hand. I didn't know what I planned to do, but heck if I wasn't going to do something.

"Die," Zabuza said simply, and for a wild second I thought I wouldn't make it in time.

'Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!' I heard, and suddenly I was enclosed with Zabuza and Sasuke in a ring made of Narutos. At first I thought the jutsu had been annoying, but now- I couldn't be more grateful.

"Oh, Kage Bunshin no Jutsu?" Zabuza asked, clearly amused. "And you seem to have made quite a few."

While he was distracted, I made it to Sasuke, trying to help him get out. "Come on, Uchiha. Up and at em."

Despite the fact he was probably in pain, he gave me a look. "What are you…doing? And you say I'm…upsetting our rivalry's balance."

The look I returned was an annoyed one. "You misunderstand. Killing you is my job. I'm not about to let some eyebrowless, cow-pattern wearing psycho do my job for me."

He stared at me. Then the barest hint of a smirk spread across his bloody lips. "Che. If you say so."

"Here I go!" The simultaneous voices of all the Naruto clones brought us back to the matter at hand. They lunged.

Noting they were armed, I stated, "We should go before Naruto stabs us by mistake."

"That is something he would do…idiot."

We got safely away just in time to watch Zabuza disappear under a mass of bright orange jumpsuit.

This of course, did not last long. Zabuza burst out of the group and began dispelling all the clones with intensity. Little puffs of smoke began appearing everywhere. One was rummaging in a backpack as it skidded along the ground. "Sasuke!" it yelled, tossing something black into the air.

Sasuke caught it. It didn't take me long to sense something different about it. So that was his plan…clever. The at first single blade spread out into four blades, connected by a holding ring that served as the pivotal point. "Fuuma Shuriken," Sasuke announced. "Windmill of Shadows."

It was indeed a very dramatic unveiling, but Zabuza didn't look impressed. "A shuriken won't work on me."

I found a small grin appearing on my face as Sasuke leaped into the air and threw it. Zabuza got ready, but his eyes widened as the shuriken on steroids whizzed right past him…heading for the real Zabuza. "I see," the real one mused. "So you're going after the real one this time…" Then he reached out and caught it. "But it's too easy for me!" He didn't stay confident for long, as another shuriken came from the shadow of the first shuriken and headed for him. This time he was forced to jump. "Still too easy for me!"

My grin only widened. Beside me, Sasuke only smirked.

Because the second shuriken turned into Naruto.

"This is the spot!" He yelled, launching a kunai- straight at Zabuza's face.

There was nothing else the man could do. He whipped his arm out of the water prison, just missing the kunai by inches. The kunai, by the way, continued on and got his water clone in the-

"Spine," I muttered.

"Don't even start."

"Meh."

Then I got a closer look and almost did a happy dance. The kunai hadn't even missed him after all. It had cut his eye- enough to make it bleed! Bonus points!

Zabuza apparently wasn't happy that we had managed to make him bleed. So he decided to take it out on the person closest to him. The Fuuma shuriken whirling, he turned on Naruto, who was still free falling through the air. "You darn kid!"

Then the shuriken stopped moving.

Why did it stop moving? Because it had gotten caught in the back of someone's hand. Which someone? A particular silver haired someone who was now free- soaking wet, but free. Surprise. Naruto splashed unharmed into the water.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura cheered. Way to ruin the surprise, Sakura.

Naruto burst out of the water, equally ecstatic.

"Naruto, your plan was impressive," Kakashi commended, as if he didn't have the blade of a giant shuriken lodged in his hand. "You have all sure grown."

Naruto chuckled- not evilly, mind you- before proceeding to explain his plan to the less informed. "I used Kage Bunshin to hide the fact I transformed into a Fuuma shuriken. I didn't do it to defeat Zabuza. I left one of my bunshins and transformed into a Fuuma shuriken. Then my bunshin threw me, now a Fuuma shuriken, to Sasuke. Sasuke and Suten noticed it was me right after Sasuke caught it. Then he took out his own shuriken and used Kage Shuriken no Jutsu. I hid in the shadow of the real shuriken and went straight for Zabuza. I knew that I couldn't beat Zabuza just by that, of course. But I thought if I could just break the water-bubble, maybe things would turn around…" Then he remembered something. "But we were also able to get rid of the Mizu Bunshin, so it was a success!

Seeing as how he wasn't going to explain my part, I added, "While we were talking, it became clear that Zabuza might go after one of us before we could put the plan into action. So I, with my speed and agility, was given the important task of getting whoever it was out of the way so we could execute the plan." I paused. "To be honest, it was a good thing it was Uchiha, considering Naruto had the biggest part…"

Sasuke shot me a glare. "Really, it was all just luck," he added, ignoring Tazuna's yells of "It was luck?" in the background.

Zabuza, of course, did not want to admit losing to a group of measly genin. "I lost myself momentarily and canceled the Suiron no Jutsu," he said, trying to save some of his pride.

Kakashi put him in his place. "No. You didn't cancel the jutsu. You were forced to. Let me just tell you that the same jutsu won't work against me twice." He looked Zabuza in the eye. "What are you going to do now?"

Sasuke seemed to notice that things were about to get serious. "Sakura, Suten. Don't let your guard down." We nodded, and all three of us shifted in front of Tazuna. Our task was merely protecting him again.

Zabuza's eye twitched, and without warning he closed the shuriken, all four blades digging into Kakashi's hand. Kakashi struggled with it for a while, then flung it away, and it disappeared into the mist. The two ninja jumped back, and Zabuza made a hand sign. Kakashi's gaze zeroed in on it.

"Sharingan," Sasuke whispered.

Sharingan? Was he seriously planning to copy hand signs at the same time Zabuza weaved them?

Zabuza landed, and began forming hand signs, one after the other. Kakashi landed, and began forming the same hand signs at the exact same time. The chain of hand signs stretched on and on. I was beginning to wonder whether it was a jutsu or some sort of strange ritual, when suddenly…

'Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu!'

Two giant water dragons with gleaming yellow eyes burst from the lake, curling and intertwining around each other before crashing into each other. The force made a huge wave that passed the shore and very nearly swept me off my feet. But the dragons weren't done. They kept writhing, smashing, and biting, raining water down on us. And even while they were battling, sword clashed with kunai and the ninja below them faced off.

Something wasn't right, and assuming Sasuke was the Sharingan expert, I turned to him. "Ne, Uchiha. Sharingan is a copying technique, right?"

He nodded. "Right…"

"Then how did Kakashi-sensei weave those hand signs at the exact same time?" I questioned.

He hesitated. "I don't know."

Wrong answer. "You don't know? I thought you were a freaking Uchiha! Sharingan runs in your family!"

"I don't know, okay?" He turned back to the battle with an irritated look on his face. "Hn. Frustrating."

"And he's into monosyllables and insults again." I sighed.

Finally Zabuza and Kakashi broke apart, sheathed their weapons…then proceeded to run in a circle around each other. Weird.

"Ring around the rosie, a pocket full of posies. Ashes, ashes…"

"Can you be serious," Sasuke questioned without turning back around, "for more than five minutes? I swear, first the kill points, now this…"

"Touchy," I muttered as the running stopped. Zabuza assumed the same chakra gathering stance(or some freaky hand sign). And guess what? This time, Kakashi did it, too.

"He's moving just like him!" Tazuna exclaimed. "And with such perfect timing!"

"How is he doing that?" I added.

Sakura, of course, asked Sasuke. "Yeah, how is he doing that, Sasuke-kun?"

I snorted. "Oh, don't ask Uchiha. He doesn't know anything about Sharingan even though it supposedly is only in his clan…"

"Urusai!"

Zabuza put his hand down. A few seconds later, Kakashi said, "…predicted by him." Zabuza growled, and made another hand sign. "…has such unpleasant eyes, right?" Kakashi continued.

My eyes were huge as I figured out why he was speaking so strangely. "He's finishing Zabuza's thoughts. Sharingan…can read minds, too?"

Zabuza looked livid, then formed another hand sign. "Heh! What you're doing is just copying. Nothing original." He was trying to save his pride again. Really it just made him look pathetic.

And then the strangest yet most awesome thing I had seen all day happened. At the exact same time, Kakashi and Zabuza said, "You can't beat me, you monkey!"

So…so he could not only read the guy's mind fast enough to finish his thoughts… but speak with him in unison? This Sharingan wasn't something to play around with.

This final act drove Zabuza over the edge. He began weaving hand signs faster. "I'll make it so you'll never open that copycat mouth of yours again!" And then he froze. What? What was he seeing?

Kakashi finished weaving hand signs- finished hand signs he hadn't even seen yet- how? 'Suiton: Daibakafu no Jutsu!'

Water began swirling in the air in front of him, forming into a ball and shooting itself at Zabuza. Zabuza howled as he was swallowed up by the still growing force of water and swept somewhere further into the trees.

I threw up an arm in front of my face to keep the spray from the rushing current out of my eyes. I really hoped Kakashi remembered his students and client were still here. Naruto was clinging to a tree, for Pete's sake.

Zabuza finally appeared out of the torrent, his back slamming into a tree. Kunai whizzed toward him, sticking in his arms and legs. Kakashi appeared on a branch above him. "This is the end," he repeated.

The water finally began to recede into the lake as Zabuza looked up. "Why?" he asked, in a strangely quiet voice. "Can you see the future?"

"Yeah." Kakashi lifted another kunai. "Your future is death."

Suddenly there was a flash, and blood spurted from Zabuza's neck as his eyes went wide. And Kakashi hadn't moved, he even looked startled. I hadn't even seen much of an attack- what was going on? I followed the direction from where the flash came, as Zabuza thudded to the ground.

A person was standing in a tree. A person with long black hair in a cloth covered bun, unusual clothing, and a white mask with a red swirl across a cheek and the Kiri symbol on the forehead. "Your prediction was true," said the person in a somewhat feminine voice- so I assumed it was a female. "He did die."

Everyone watched as Kakashi went to Zabuza's motionless form and pressed two fingers to his jugular vein, searching for a pulse. "He really is dead," he said finally.

Wait, just like that? It was so sudden…

"Arigato gozaimashita," said the mysterious masked woman, bowing. "I was looking for a chance to kill Zabuza."

"That mask," Kakashi noted. "If I remember correctly, you must be a hunter nin from Kirigakure."

She straightened. "You are very well informed."

Naruto skidded to a stop in front of us. And from what I could tell, he was not happy. "A hunter nin?" he snapped.

Sakura stared at him. "You don't even know what a hunter nin is? You should have learned it in the Academy."

"The same Academy Naruto spent most of his time trying to get out of?" I reminded her.

She hmmed. "Right…so he wouldn't have learned, huh? Hunter nin are those who assassinate rogue nin like Zabuza who, for some reason, go against the village they were born in. They do it to conceal any secret of their village."

I remembered when I had first heard of hunter nin. I had thought it was a cool sounding job, rivaling that of ANBU, and had wanted to join when I graduated. I still did, actually…

"Yes," agreed the strange woman. "I am a member of the pursuing ninja unit that hunt rogue nin."

Naruto ran up to her. He looked from Zabuza, to the hunter nin. Zabuza, to the hunter nin. "Who the heck are you?" he yelled finally. "Who are you?"

"Calm down, Naruto," Kakashi told him, standing. "He's not an enemy."

"That's not what I'm asking! But…Zabuza was killed!" he ranted as Kakashi began walking towards him. "He…he was so strong, but he was killed so easily by a kid not that different from me! We…we look like idiots! I can't accept this!"

"I understand how you can't believe it," Kakashi told him, coming to a stop and leaning in. "But this is real." He put a hand on Naruto's head. "In this world, there are kids who are younger than you…and stronger than me."

Like the happy child who killed 100 students.

The hunter nin disappeared in a whirl of wind and leaves, to reappear in front of Zabuza's body. She hoisted it onto her shoulders. "Your battle ends here for now. I must go dispose of this corpse. It's a body filled with secrets. If you'll excuse me." She disappeared again.

Kakashi slid his hitai-ate back down over his Sharingan eye. "He's not around here anymore."

Naruto immediately dropped to his knees and proceeded to punch the ground in his fury. "What was that?" he railed. "What were we..?"

He would have continued cursing and carrying on if Kakashi hadn't grabbed his fist. "Things like this happen when you're a ninja," he said. "If you don't like it, make it up next time. Then he turned to us. "Our mission isn't ended yet. We need to take Tazuna-san to his house."

Now that the danger was past, Tazuna laughed. "Sorry about that, everyone! Just rest up at my house!"

"Sounds like a plan," I told him. After all this geezer had put us through, I think heck yes he was letting us rest at his house.

"All right! Let's cheer up and go!" Our sensei turned and took a step...and collapsed.

"Kakashi-sensei!" We all ran to his aid. "Sensei?" Naruto asked nervously. Kakashi didn't even move.

I crouched down and looked him in the eye, then felt for a pulse. "He's all right...just tired, I think. Help me get him to the house."

It was only when we were on the road, Sasuke and Naruto supporting our comatose sensei, that I realized.

"Wait…that was a GUY?"

**It took her long enough! But we must give her some credit...we all thought that was a girl at some point. With the clothes, and the flowers, and the feminine voice(even in Japanese)... Heck, I'm still not 100% sure.**

**It took 2 friggin long chapters, but that battle is finally over! Now Team Kakashi heads to Tazuna's house for some rest and recuperation and tree climbing!**

**...wait. Tree climbing? That can't be right...*consults script* Oh, right, okay! Tree climbing! Next, on I Hate Uchiha!**

**Questions? Comments? Concerns? Please review!**

**Questions! Comments!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hello again, most happy people! So heads up, I lied- tree climbing is not in this chapter. I forgot I had to introduce an important character to this arc! Plus while I was writing this, I had a few deep thoughts and decided to put them in here. Let me know if you agree with my thoughts.**

**So some Sasuke and Suten interaction, because we all can't get enough of them beating each other up...but they may not be doing as much of that in this chappie..?**

**Here we go! Chapter 9 of I Hate Uchiha!**

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><p>With the help of Sasuke and some of Naruto's bunshins, we had managed to get Kakashi back to Tazuna's house. It was a little on the small side, but homey. Definitely homey. Tazuna's daughter(the same one who he said would swear vengeance against Konoha if he died) was actually incredibly hospitable. Although her name was Tsunami- why name your daughter after a destructive force of nature?<p>

Unless, of course, she was a destructive force of nature…

I leaned back against the wall outside the house, deep in thought. No other nin had showed up since we'd been here. Granted, we hadn't been here for more than a day, but with Kakashi comatose I felt incredibly...unprotected. I sighed, running a hand through my bangs. "Every time we go up against somebody, we need sensei to come to our rescue. How weak are we?"

"Sensei's awake!" I heard Naruto yell from inside the house. Good- at least now if someone tried to attack, we'd stand a chance…

But as I entered the room, I immediately saw that wasn't true. Kakashi may have been awake, but from the looks of things, he could barely get out of bed.

"…I'm not sure if it's good or bad." I caught the end of what Sakura had been saying as I walked in. If what's good or bad? That we haven't been attacked?

"Sorry," Kakashi mumbled.

"But you defeated such a strong ninja," Tazuna pointed out, possibly trying to cheer him up. "We should be okay for a while."

I frowned. "We should be. But say we're not. Say someone tries to get us- with Kakashi-sensei out, the four of us wouldn't stand a chance, we've seen that already."

The room went quiet for a moment as everyone realized the truth behind my words. Naruto especially seemed to be taking it hard. But that was probably because he was thinking about-

"By the way, who was that boy with the mask?"

…right. Her- or should I say him. "Still don't think that's a boy," I muttered.

Kakashi stared up at the ceiling. "He had the mask of a hunter nin from a special squad in Kirigakure's ANBU."

"Special squad?" I questioned.

He nodded. "They are also known as the fire extinguishing unit. Their job is to erase any evidence that a ninja was alive. A ninja's body will give away the secrets of ninja techniques and chakra of the village it was in, any specific medicine that was used on the body…along with various other things."

Huh. I wondered briefly what my body had to say about me.

"For example, if I die, the secret to the Sharingan will be examined. And in the worst case scenario, there's a possibility that my techniques, including the Sharingan, will be stolen."

That took grave robbing to a whole new level.

"In other words, hunter nin will kill rogue nin who have abandoned the village, dispose of the body, and stop any secrets of the body being revealed. They are experts in the field."

"Dream job," I muttered to myself.

Sasuke caught it and gave me a weird look. "You'd want to do that?"

I returned the look. "Why not? Assassinating dangerous nin and erasing all traces of their existence- all in stealth and utmost secrecy. It's my kind of lifestyle." I hmmed. "Although senbon aren't particularly reliable weapons…" I trailed off, a sudden horrible thought coming to me. But that was crazy. There was no way… "Um…sensei?"

He seemed to be lost in thought, but immediately turned to me. "Hmm?"

"Just, you know, out of curiosity…do hunter nin normally carry bodies off to get rid of them?"

Kakashi paused. Then he shook his head. "No. Hunter nin are supposed to eliminate the corpse on the spot."

I swore under my breath, pinching the bridge of my nose. The horrible thought was getting stronger… "Oh, great…Just great…"

"What is it?" Sakura questioned, Sasuke and Naruto looking interested as well. Although something was beginning to dawn on Sasuke, I could tell by his face.

"What did the boy with the mask do to Zabuza?" Kakashi spelled out patiently. I really needed to find out where Kakashi got his patience.

Sakura still didn't get it. "How should I know?" she asked. "He took Zabuza away."

"Right. But all he needed to do was bring back the head as proof."

"Just stop," I groaned. "I don't want to think about this, I do not want to consider this possibility."

"Also, as Suten stated-" I groaned louder, "the weapon the boy used to kill Zabuza is questionable."

Sasuke was catching on. "It was just a senbon needle," he realized. "Could it be that…?"

"Don't say it," I warned him.

"Yeah," Kakashi agreed, not looking at all happy as he sat up. "It's just what you're thinking."

"Don't say it."

There were still a few other people who had no idea what was going on. One of which was Tazuna. "What are you all talking about?" he asked suspiciously.

Kakashi's face was utter seriousness, and I realized he was going to say the dreaded words that would confirm my horrible, horrible thought.

"Zabuza-"

"Sensei, don't-"

"-is still-"

"I'm begging you-"

"Alive."

"NO!" My head slammed against the floor. "I told you not to say it," I mumbled.

"WHAT?" screeched Naruto, Sakura, and Tazuna immediately after.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Naruto.

"But you confirmed that he died, sensei!" Sakura.

"I did confirm it," Kakashi agreed. "But most likely he was merely in a near death state. Senbon needles have a low fatality rate unless they hit a critical spot. They're mostly used in acupuncture healings and such."

One more reason not to trust acupuncture. On a side note, I probably should have untied my hitai-ate before faceplanting into the floor. My head was really starting to hurt.

"Hunter nin know the structure of the human body very well. It should be easy for them to put a person into a near death state. First, he took home Zabuza's body even when it was clear the corpse was heavier than him. Second, he used a weapon with a low fatality rate. From these two facts, it's clear that the goal of that boy was not to kill Zabuza…but rather to help him."

"Maybe you're thinking too much," Tazuna said finally, not wanting to accept the fact that Zabuza was still alive.

Kakashi wouldn't have it. "No, once a ninja feels something's off, he must prepare for it before it's too late. It's one of the ninja's iron rules."

I lifted my head from the floor, slipping fingers beneath my hitai-ate and massaging my forehead. "And just how do you intend on 'preparing for it before it's too late'?" I asked, still sour that my horrible thought had been confirmed. "Especially considering you can barely move.."

He laughed. "I'm going to make you all go through some training."

"But even if we train, it won't change much," Sakura pointed out, "since the enemy is someone even you, Kakashi of the Sharingan, had a hard time with."

"Just as I was saying," I agreed. Then my voice dropped. "Although you could have gone without the brown nosing…"

"Hey!"

Kakashi cut in. "Sakura, Suten, who saved me when I was in trouble? You four are growing at a rapid rate. Especially you, Naruto." He leaned in and smiled. "You've grown the most."

Naruto grew? He had come up with a pretty good plan back there…and he wasn't being as much of an idiot recently.

"You know your stuff, Kakashi-sensei!" Of course Naruto would still never turn down a compliment. He was practically glowing. "Now things are getting interesting."

"No, it's not."

With the whiny high pitched voice, I had at first thought it was Sakura speaking. Everyone else seemed to be looking back, though, so I followed their gaze.

A little boy was standing in the doorway, wearing dark green overalls over a high collar white shirt. Messy black hair peeked out from under his white and blue bucket hat.

"Who're you?" Naruto asked rudely.

Tazuna answered that question almost immediately. "Oh, Inari! Where were you?"

"I'm home, jii-chan," the newly introduced Inari called, running to Tazuna's arms. So this was the grandson who would cry about how he wanted his granddad? He seemed young enough to cry…

Tsunami came over to him- was she his mother? "Inari, say hello to them," she admonished. "These are ninja that escorted jii-chan."

Tazuna patted the bucket hat. "It's okay. Right, Inari?"

Inari looked us all over. It was then I noticed that his eyes were unusually dark and soulless. No kid should have those eyes- they were almost as bad as- anyway. Inari finally turned to Tsunami.

"Kaa-chan, they're going to die. No one can win going against Gato."

"Well, excuse you," I muttered, losing interest and turning away.

Naruto, of course, would not sit there and be insulted. So he jumped to his feet. "What did you say, you brat? Listen up! I'm a super hero that's going to become Hokage. I don't know who this Gato or Chocolat is, but he's no enemy of mine."

Inari remained unfazed. "A hero? That's stupid. There's no such thing as a hero."

"Wha…what did you say?" Naruto looked ready to punch the kid, but Sakura held him back.

The little boy turned away. "If you don't want to die, you should go home." And with that cheery piece of advice, he walked away. Such happy little children we're meeting on this mission.

Tazuna looked a little distressed as he watched his grandson leave. "Where are you going, Inari?"

He pushed the door open. "To watch the ocean."

The door closed, and Tazuna turned back to us. "Sorry about that…"

Naruto growled as Sakura let him go, and immediately stalked after Inari to 'give him a piece of his mind'. I sighed.

"Well, while Naruto gets his feelings out…" Kakashi accepted the crutches Tsunami offered and was soon standing. "What do you say we begin training, eh?"

I nodded, getting up. Sasuke was right behind me. Sakura stood hesitantly as we all headed out the door. "Shouldn't we wait for Naruto?" she asked, then caught herself. "Not that I care, it's just…"

"He'll be fine," Kakashi told her, waving a dismissive hand. "Come on, we're wasting daylight."

_**-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-**_

My mind was still on the little boy with the haunted eyes as we trekked out into the trees. What reason would a little kid have to be so clearly disturbed?

"Takashi."

I jerked out of my thoughts to notice Sasuke walking beside me. "You actually called my name?" I noticed, my tone coated with sarcasm. "I'm flattered."

He scowled, but it was quickly replaced with a pensive look. "Inari. What do you make of him?"

I decided it wouldn't kill me to have a serious conversation with him- he was probably the most intelligent other genin on this squad anyway- and thought. "The way he said that there are no such things as heroes… He should still believe in them at his age- something must have happened to make him doubt heroes so much. Something having to do with Gato." I was about to say something else, but decided not to.

Sasuke caught it. "And?"

Fine, make me say it. "And, I don't like his eyes. They're eyes that have lost hope. Eyes that are too dark and full of misery. Eyes…" Now I really wasn't going to say it. "Forget it."

"Say it."

"Uchiha…"

"Say it..."

"They remind me of yours, okay?" I burst out. And now I had gone and said it. The last thing I wanted was for Sasuke to know I was actually starting to pay this much attention to him- and everyone else, too. Taking a deep breath to calm myself and trying not to look at his face, I continued, though I didn't want to.

"And not just his eyes. Everything about him reminds me of you. Pretending to be a cool tough guy, putting down people that have more light in their eyes. But then there's something broken…something hidden behind all the stone walls. I can see it if I look close enough, or if the walls come down for just a second… You can tell a lot about people by their eyes, Uchiha."

When I finally looked at Sasuke, he was staring at me, but immediately ducked his head when he saw I was watching him. "Hn. You see all that…in my eyes," he muttered.

"Yeah…" I paused. "Did…did we just have a deep, civil moment?"

"…yes. And it was completely your fault."

"My fault? You're the one who started talking to me."

"Tch. If I knew you'd get into an analysis on my eyes, I wouldn't have started talking to you."

"If you didn't keep pushing the subject, I wouldn't have gone into an analysis on your eyes."

"If you didn't make it obvious there was a subject to push, I wouldn't have pushed said subject."

"…I hate you."

"I hate you too."

I nodded, satisfied that we were back where we should be. "Good. Now can we try not to change that? Delicate balance, remember."

A small smirk appeared on his lips. "Che. As long as you don't try getting close to me again."

"I'll have you know-"

"We will now begin the training," Kakashi cut in, "so if Suten and Sasuke have re-established the 'delicate balance of their rivalry', be quiet and let me talk."

And like good little students, we were quiet and let him talk. "Sorry, sensei." It was then that I noticed Naruto had finally caught up with us.

"But before that, let me remind you about chakra, the base for the ability as ninja."

Sasuke did not approve. "At a time like this?" he asked in a voice that indicated we did not need to go over that again.

"I already know about that," Naruto piped up. "Chatra, right?"

"…maybe some of us do need to go over it again," I muttered.

"It's chakra," Kakashi corrected. Noticing Sakura wanted to explain, he gestured to her. "Go ahead, Sakura-kun."

I tuned Sakura out as she began to explain about chakra and its uses. Her brown nosing Kakashi was really starting to get on my nerves. What did she expect to get from it? Although now I thought on it, that wasn't hard to figure out: it was praise. Be it Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, or even me… we felt good when we heard Kakashi toss a compliment our way. I wasn't really sure why, but his opinion was beginning to mean a lot to all of us.

"Good, Sakura," Kakashi told her when she finished. "Iruka-sensei was blessed with a nice student, I see." Sakura giggled a little. See what I meant?

"What's with that?" Naruto whined. "You can just learn that with your body even if you don't understand the hard stuff."

"Exactly what Naruto said," Sasuke agreed, surprising me that he was agreeing with the idiot. "We're able to use jutsus anyway."

"No, you guys aren't able to use your chakra completely," Kakashi contradicted. "Just listen up. Like Sakura said, molding the chakra means to extract energies from the body and spirit, then mix them up in your body. And the amount of each energy will differ with regards to the type of technique you wish to execute. In other words, the mixing will be different. You are not able to use your chakra effectively. Even if you are able to mold a large amount of chakra, if you can't control the balance, your technique will only be half as effective- or not effective at all. Wasting energy will make you weak and unable to fight for a while."

"Like you, sensei?" I asked sweetly.

"…very funny. But no."

"So what should I do?" Naruto questioned, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

"You're going to learn how to control it with your body," he replied, still being vague. "You must go through rigorous training where you put your life on the line."

This sounded fun. "So what are we doing?" I pressed.

"Hmm?" He pointed up. "Climbing trees."

"..No, seriously, what are we doing?"

* * *

><p><strong>...That's never happened before. Suten and Sasuke took over my fingers and made me write it so they were getting almost friendly with each other. So naturally I had to get them to argue again to break them up. Bad Suten, bad Sasuke. I wrote you into this fic, and so help me, I can take you out!<strong>

**Suten: I'm the main character...**

**Don't get snippy with me, young lady!**

**Anyway, if you didn't see what the two thought provoking ideas I had in this chapter were, they are a) the look in Inari's eyes isn't much different from that of our resident Uchiha, and b) Team 7 seems to just eat up praise from their sensei early in the series. Thoughts, anyone?**

**Next up- for sure this time- tree climbing!**

**Questions? Comments? Concerns? Please review! **


	10. Chapter 10

**I believe today is cause for celebration. Not only is- was today the last day of school(I pity the fools who have to stay in till June) but this chapter marks I Hate Uchiha's graduation to- wait for it- DOUBLE DIGITS! *applause***

**So to celebrate this doubly momentous occasion...you get 1000 more words than usual! With humor and Sasuke/Suten interaction galore! Because you all seem to like that!**

**Oh, wait! I don't own Naruto. Or Sasuke. Or Sakura. Or Kakashi. Or...I just own Suten, okay?**

* * *

><p>"I wasn't joking, Suten," Kakashi informed me as we all stood in the middle of the forest. "You four will be climbing trees. But it's not ordinary tree climbing."<p>

Of course. Nothing was ever ordinary with Kakashi. I was beginning to figure that out pretty quickly.

"You're going to climb without using your hands."

I got a sudden image of the four of us struggling to dig into the bark with our teeth, and couldn't help a snicker. "Right, sure. And just how do you propose we do that?" I asked, folding my arms and shifting my weight to one foot. Hands were a somewhat vital tool for tree climbing, after all.

Kakashi seemed as if he had been expecting skepticism. "Just watch," he said simply, before making a handsign. A gust of wind blew around his feet, and he began hobbling to the nearest tree. Literally hobbling. Needless to say, it was very entertaining to watch. At least one of us would have no problem not using their hands. When he placed a foot on the trunk of the tree, I started to realize he was completely serious about the no-hands tree climbing thing. "Um, sensei, I don't think you should-"

The rest of my warning died in my throat as he continued walking- up the freaking tree trunk- without even changing pace. He looked back at me as he walked. "Hm? Were you going to say something, Suten?" His voice held a hint of teasing in it.

If it was Sasuke up there making fun of me, there would be a rock aimed with deadly precision at his head. As it was my sensei and he was walking completely vertical without visibly breaking a sweat, I only wanted to know one thing. "How…how the heck is he doing that?"

He walked out to a branch and stood facing us upside down. "This is what I meant by without using your hands," he elaborated unnecessarily. "Gather your chakra at the bottom of your feet, and make it attach to the trunk. Doing something like this is possible only if you use chakra."

"Wait," Sakura interjected, though she already looked determined and raring to go, "how are we supposed to get strong by doing that?"

"And now we get to the main topic." He stared down at us. "The main purpose of this training is to accumulate the right amount of molded chakra in the right location. This is difficult for even a well trained ninja."

"Well, we're not well trained," I muttered- I will not say sulkily, but from an outside point of view it could be interpreted that way. But I do not sulk.

"The amount of chakra used for this tree climbing exercise is quite subtle," Kakashi continued, pretending not to hear me. "And the most difficult place to concentrate chakra is behind the feet. In other words, if you are able to master this, you can learn any type of jutsu. In theory, that is."

Jackpot. The amount of jutsus in my arsenal was few to none. It wasn't that I was bad at chakra related things; I just never took the time to learn jutsus other than that one replicating jutsu we had to do to graduate. I could do with a head start.

"The second purpose is to maintain that molded chakra." Kakashi apparently wasn't finished quite yet. "Most of the time, ninja mold their chakra during battle. In that situation, it is even more difficult to maintain that chakra." He paused, then shrugged. "Well, it's not like anything is going to happen even if I give this lecture. I need all of you to learn it with your bodies." He pulled out four kunai knifes and threw them at our feet. That is, he threw them so they stuck into the ground in front of us. Nobody's toes got impaled, no matter how funny I would've thought it was.

Unless they were my toes. Then that would not be funny. Not at all.

"Use that knife to mark where you are able to climb up to with your current ability." His voice had taken on an authoritative tone. In my opinion, these were the only times when he sounded like a real sensei. "Try to make a new mark above that mark. You guys aren't good enough to climb by walking-"

Thank you for that vote of confidence, Kakashi. Even though it was true.

"-so run to give yourself a boost, and get used to it. Got it?"

Naruto whipped his kunai out of the ground. "This training is too easy for me!" he declared confidently. "Since I'm the guy who's growing the most right now!"

I sighed, picking up my own kunai. "Then let's see you do it," I told him with a hand on my hip, a hint of challenge in my tone.

"I will!" He made the handsign while muttering to himself under his breath. The rest of us followed suit. It took a little while, but I felt the thrum of power collecting at my feet. Good, that part was down. Now I just had to-

"All right! I'm going first!"

Naruto charged at a tree without warning. I noted that instead of going for their own trees, Sasuke and Sakura stayed back with me to watch. Might as well see if the idiot could prove himself and surprise us all again.

Needless to say, he only made it two steps up the tree. He didn't even mark the tree before falling and landing on his spiky yellow head. "And now everything really is as it should be," I commented, watching him whining and rubbing his head, before I darted off to my own tree.

I thought tree climbing would be frustrating and difficult. And I'm not saying it wasn't at first. The chakra beneath my feet fluctuated as I struggled to find a balance. Too little chakra and I could feel myself slipping. Too much chakra and the bark almost seemed to force me away, cracking slightly.

But as I continued to climb, the chakra began to fluctuate less and less as I began finding a medium. It was like a pendulum that swung in smaller and smaller arcs as it wore down. A small grin appeared on my face as I hopped onto a branch for a quick rest, slashing the trunk for good measure. I could almost touch the leaves on the tree now.

"This is easier than I thought," I heard Sakura chirp happily, and when I glanced over at her, I saw she was at about the same height as I was. So she was good at something other than being bossy and a know it all.

I looked down next, and noted with glee that both boys were still on the ground. I waved teasingly at Sasuke. The movement made his gaze zero in on me, and his eyes narrowed in frustration.

"Oh?" Kakashi pretended to sound fairly surprised. "It looks like the ones best at chakra control are the girls, Sakura and Suten."

Sakura stuck out her tongue with a giggle, swinging her legs happily. Naruto seemed in awe. "Wow, Sakura-chan! That's something I expected from the girl I have high hopes for!"

Ignoring Sakura's disappointment at Sasuke's lack of interest in her, I leaned forward. "Oi, Uchiha! How's it going down there? I thought you were climbing trees, too!"

His eye twitched, and I dodged the kunai he sent at my head, shaking my finger and tutting at him like he was a little boy throwing a tantrum(which he was). "Temper, temper. It's not nice to throw things. Especially since you kinda needed that kunai."

"A shinobi must learn to control his anger, Sasuke," Kakashi scolded. "And I'd appreciate you not throwing away my items." So we could all continue training at the same time, he sent a clone into the woods behind me to retrieve the kunai, then continued speaking. "Sakura, Suten, your control and stamina are impressive. Maybe Sakura, and not someone else, is closer to becoming Hokage right now. And maybe the Uchiha clan isn't as great as Suten, either."

This was well on its way to becoming the best freaking training session ever. Not only was I so much better than this at Sasuke, but I had caused Sasuke to lose his temper and get scolded by Kakashi- who then went on to talk about how great I was. Could this get any better?

Naruto and Sasuke stared each other down, and I could read their thoughts in their expressions. This had become a contest between them, to see who could master this training first. "All right," Naruto said to himself finally, "I'm going to catch up to Sasuke first. I'm going to do this!"

_**-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-**_

Sakura yawned beside me as she sat on the bridge, and I ducked her stretching arms, stifling a yawn myself. Since we had mastered the exercise so quickly, Kakashi had allowed us to guard Tazuna as he finished the bridge. Meanwhile Sasuke and Naruto would keep climbing trees. I couldn't help the spark of pride that flared within me at the thought. Kakashi thought I was capable of guarding the client all by myself! Well, Sakura was there, too- but I decided she didn't actually count. Maybe I was stronger than I thought.

"How do you think Sasuke-kun's doing?" Sakura asked for the hundredth time, turning to me with a worried look in her eyes. "I hope he's okay…"

I was about to tell her yes, Sasuke was probably fine, and stop asking me because I wasn't psychic. But it wouldn't hurt to mess with her a little, just as punishment for getting on my nerves. "Well, I don't know," I said nonchalantly, folding my arms behind my head in a relaxed manner. "He's been working himself pretty hard to outdo Naruto. Both of them are probably dead or dying in the woods somewhere from chakra exhaustion."

Her big green eyes got even bigger. "Don't say that!" she protested forcefully, although she didn't look too sure. "Sasuke-kun will be fine!"

"If you say so." My eyes drifted up to the clouds as I struggled to remain matter of fact. "All I know is, he has a pretty hard time knowing when to call it a day. Maybe he fell out of the tree and split his skull." It was getting hard not to burst out laughing.

"Stop it!" she screeched, swinging a frantic punch that I easily dodged. "He's fine! He's probably back at Tazuna-san's house, asleep! Or beating up Naruto! Or-"

"Or," I cut in, meeting her gaze, "he could be lying bloodied on the grass, whispering your name with his last breath. Whispering…" I deeped and angstified my voice to make it sound as Sasuke as possible. "'Sakura…if only I could kiss your beautiful wide forehead, just once…It'd make the going bearable.'"

It took only three seconds for the full effect of my theatrics to sink in.

"S…SASUKE-KUN! I'M COMING, SASUKE-KUN!" The pinkette leaped to her feet, determination and tears glittering in her emerald eyes, and was all ready to fly off to save her true love. Except she was distracted by a noise coming from behind her. What was that noise, you ask?

Oh, just me laughing at her stupidity.

"You actually fell for…you actually thought…he wanted to kiss your forehead," I gasped out between cackles. "I should…be an actress…"

Sakura's fists clenched as she realized I had been messing with her. "Suten! I thought Sasuke-kun was actually dying! That wasn't funny!" She aimed another punch at my head that I narrowly avoided.

"Well, you ladies seem to be enjoying yourselves."

We quit our antics as Tazuna strode up. He wore a hard hat and carried a heavy looking steel beam. So that had been muscle and not fat after all. Still, it didn't seem right to see someone so old toting something so heavy. "Where's that blonde kid and the arrogant guy?" he questioned.

I couldn't help it. I snuck a glance at Sakura, then said it just loud enough that Tazuna could hear. "Dying in the woods…" I started snickering again.

"I said it's not funny!" Sakura shoved me so hard I very nearly fell off the bridge. "They're training," she corrected in an irritated tone, "with a tree climbing exercise."

Tazuna nodded. "And what about you two?"

At this, Sakura immediately puffed up. "I'm smart," she said in a snobby tone. "So Kakashi-sensei told me to guard you. Suten's just tagging along."

I snorted, folding my arms and leaning against the railing. "Please. What she means is, WE finished the exercise early, so Kakashi-sensei sent US to guard you."

"It's the same thing!"

Tazuna nodded, continuing on his way. "I thought her version seemed off…"

As Sakura seethed, I watched as one of Tazuna's employees came up to him. They had a conversation too quiet for me to hear- at least, not with Sakura grumbling so much. "Sakura, shut up and listen," I commanded, not really caring whether she got angry or not, and listened in.

"W-Why all of a sudden? Not you, too…"

"Tazuna, I've known you for a long time. I want to help, but if I get too involved, Gato will come after me, too." This guy…was he quitting? "Everything will lose meaning if you die. Why don't we stop building this bridge?"

I gaped. Stop building the bridge? Was this guy serious? Didn't he get how important the bridge was to their country?

Tazuna stared at him for a moment, before shaking his head. "I can't do that. This bridge is our bridge. This is the bridge that we've been building with the people of the town, in the hopes that distribution and transportation will increase to this poor Country of Wave, which possesses few resources."

The guy still didn't look convinced. "But if we die…"

Tazuna pretended not to hear him. "It's almost lunch time," he said. "Let's stop for now." He walked past the worker without another word.

"T-Tazuna!"

He paused, thinking of more words to say. "Giichi…you don't have to come anymore." And then he walked on.

"Coward," I muttered, staring at the guy who'd just gotten fired.

It was odd when I didn't hear a familiar brooding voice telling me to quit it, or focus. I'd just grown so used to it that now… Not to say I missed Sasuke, of course. Sakura may not have been the best of company, but I wouldn't go so far as to miss Sasuke. I just missed his reactions to my thoughts. Knowing I was getting under his skin.

Fine, don't believe me. But it's the truth. I'm telling you.

_**-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-**_

I'd managed to slip away into the woods as the sun set, partly because Tazuna was just grocery shopping and I wanted no part of that. And I was sick of Sakura's whining, because she hadn't learned from last time and was asking me my opinion on Sasuke's current state again. At least this way I could check on the guys and reassure her that 'Sasuke-kun' was not, in fact, dead or dying in the woods somewhere from chakra exhaustion. Realize that this choice had nothing to do with the possibility of me missing Sasuke- that is, missing getting on his nerves. Nope. Nothing at all.

"What's with this thing?"

That was Naruto. I found the clearing where they had been practicing and hid behind a tree to watch them. Both boys had clearly worn themselves ragged with practicing. But I couldn't help noticing that the marks were reaching considerably higher up the tree. Whatever Sakura had shared was clearly helping Naruto. But it was getting late-maybe now they would call it quits for today?

Nope. The two of them shot glares at each other, got to their feet, and started running at the trees, screaming at the tops of their lungs. You could feel the thick testosterone and masculinity radiating from them into the air. Note my heavy sarcasm. They actually managed to get really high up before crashing, almost simultaneously, to the ground. Naruto landed on his orange jumpsuited butt. Sasuke landed on his feet, but that proved too much for him and he ended up down on one knee. And then they jumped up and were at it again.

I shook my head with a sigh. With all the screaming and carrying on they were doing, they were wasting more energy than was being used to climb trees. Boys. I debated the pros and cons of a possible action as I watched Naruto fall, then Sasuke much later, and ultimately decided to do it. I was about to walk into the clearing as Naruto was about to run at the tree, when Sasuke spoke up. "Oi, Naruto."

Startled, Naruto faceplanted into the ground. He immediately got up, shaking his fist. "Darn you! Don't bother me when I'm concentrating!"

"Um, well…" The all-powerful Uchiha Sasuke actually looked…embarrassed! "You asked Sakura for tips before, right? What…what did she tell you?"

Naruto's face went from stunned, to crafty, and I knew he was aware of the kind of power he now held over Sasuke. "I'm not telling…" he said in a sneaky little voice.

Sasuke's eye twitched. "You…"

I decided now was my time to step in. "Excuse me, boys," I said in an all-important tone, walking into the clearing and stretching. "Don't let me interrupt, just keep at it." I picked a good tree out with my eye and made the handsign, concentrating my chakra to my feet. "Later," I said, giving a military style salute before running at, then up, the tree, making sure to keep the level of chakra at the right amount. I was almost a natural at this now. Almost. I stopped when I was just below the leaves, sitting on a branch and swinging my legs as I looked down. Sasuke and Naruto seemed so tiny from up here.

I reclined against the tree with eyes closed, and waited. I didn't have to wait long.

"How are you doing that?" Sasuke demanded, sounding as if he was at his wit's end. "You make it look so easy! You've probably done this before."

"She's cheating somehow!" Naruto accused, stabbing a finger in my direction. "She's gotta be!"

I opened one eye and looked down at them. "I'm not cheating," I corrected, "and I haven't done this before. You just can't accept the fact that I'm naturally better than you."

Sasuke gritted his teeth. "Keep dreaming. There's no way you're better than me."

"Let me break it down for you," I told him matter of factly. "Who's at the top of the tree right now? Me. Who's stuck down there having a manliness contest with Naruto? You. Two and two."

"You're not even really at the top of the tree," he protested, twitching at the mention of the 'manliness contest'.

I shrugged. "You're right, I'm not. But I can't see you failing from further up."

Sasuke stared at me for a few moments, before growling and making the handsign to mold his chakra. I watched, unfazed, as with a mighty yell he charged at, then up my tree, determined to prove he was better than not only Naruto, but me, too. As he got closer to my section of tree, I grabbed the trunk and leaned out, stretching out my other hand towards him. He glared at me and began to run faster, thinking I was teasing him and daring him to get my hand like before. But that wasn't what I had in mind.

When Sasuke got in range my hand flashed down to land smack dab in the middle of his forehead, arresting his movement. Stunned, he could only watch as I flashed him a grin…and pushed him back down the tree.

Don't worry, I wasn't trying to kill him. I made sure there were 90-something pounds of orange-jumpsuited moron to break his fall. Granted, I could tell by the look on his face he wasn't particularly happy about landing on said orange-jumpsuited moron…but that's assuming I cared. It was a very funny look on his face, too. Part anger, part shock… and with Naruto squirming beneath him…

I burst out laughing.

The shock on Sasuke's face momentarily took over the anger as he watched me laughing up in the tree. Apparently he had never heard me laughing before. To be fair, I had never heard him laugh, either. So now we weren't even… I finished laughing and slid down from the tree, just as he realized I had been laughing at him and started glaring at me again. "Listen…"

"It's late," I cut him off, stifling a last giggle. "Come on, let's get back to Tazuna's house for dinner. Sakura already thinks you two died in the woods."

"Eh? Why would Sakura-chan think that?" Naruto questioned as I turned to leave. Secretly I could tell he was giddy that Sakura supposedly was worried about him.

I shrugged. "Mm... I may have had something to do with that."

"Y-You said WHAT?"

**And end scene. I didn't know how else to end it, because it was reaching 4000 words and I didn't want it to go that long. **

**So, let's recap! Suten enjoys riling Sasuke up. Sasuke is reaching the end of his rope with Suten. It would seem something's gotta give. Of course, the something will give after the Zabuza arc(or will it) because it will not do to make things awkward while facing Thousand Peaches Zabuza and Haku the shemale. Plus as fun as it is to see Suten one-upping Sasuke, we also need to let Sasuke get some hits in to make it even steven. **

**So the bonding and the even-stevening will probably come after this arc. Just things to look forward to.**

**You know that feeling when you're dating a guy online and you find out he's four years younger than you(not three years older as you thought) and suddenly all his little quirks make sense? Yeah. That's how I'm feeling right now. I don't even...**

**Questions? Comments? Concerns? Please review!**


	11. Chapter 11

**I am so, so, so, so, so, so sorry, people. I went on a vacation. And did some RPing. And bothered my stepsister whose dad somehow shares the same last name as my dad(so maybe we're distantly related somehow?) And in the back of my mind I knew I should be getting to work on this chapter- and I wrote about half of it and never looked at it again until today. **

**But I finished it, so you finally get another chapter! This one is about 3300 words, and it's got some Sasuke/Suten interaction... I don't want to say bonding, but you could call it that somewhat, I think. Keep in mind- if you see them acting weird, this doesn't mean they like each other. It just means they hate each other slightly less. Yeah. That's it.**

**So here you go! Chapter 11 of I Hate Uchiha! A little insight about Inari, and a quest to find Naruto!**

**I only own Suten, for crying out loud! How many times... *goes off on a rant***

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><p>"This is really fun!" Tazuna cheered happily as we sat at the dinner table. "It's been a while since I ate with this many people!"<p>

I paid no mind to his chipper mood, swallowing another spoonful of stew and sighing. Since there weren't enough good places at the table even with Tsunami giving up her chair, I had to sit at a corner of the table, between Sasuke and Sakura- joy. Sasuke was a particular joy to sit next to now because he seemed to be in some kind of eating contest with Naruto. I swear, everything was a contest nowadays with those two. I reached my hand out for a brown dumpling, trying to ignore them both- but Sasuke stole it, tore it in half, and promptly stuffed it into his mouth.

"You had to go after the one I wanted," I growled, eye twitching. "Didn't you." There had been…three other dumplings on that plate, and which did he go for? Mine. Typical Sasuke.

He ignored me and jumped to his feet, mouth still full(with MY dumpling) and holding his bowl as if proposing a toast. "Seconds!" he demanded. Upon hearing another voice join his, I realized Naruto was doing the exact same thing. The two noticed this and glared at each other- you could almost see the sparks flying.

Rude little boys, aren't you? Do you think Tsunami's the waitress or something?

When Sasuke quickly turned towards me, I could tell he was up to something. The nauseous look on his face clued me in to what that something was.

I tried to get out of the way in time, but I only managed to get up from my chair- before Sasuke decided to regurgitate his meal. All over my feet. On purpose.

I looked down at my feet, now covered in stomach juices and Sasuke's half-digested dinner. "You didn't," I began menacingly, clenching my fists. "Uchiha, you're so freaking nasty sometimes- you don't even know!" My voice kept getting louder and louder. "You threw up on me, you jerk! I hate you- so much right now…"

He pretended to look all innocent, wiping his mouth off with his hand- but I could see a very self-satisfied smirk poorly hidden on his face.

"Stop smirking! This isn't funny! Look, what if I threw up on you?" I stuck a finger down the back of my throat, trying to stimulate my gag reflex. I was glad to see he actually looked a little apprehensive.

"Suten, that's enough."

Kakashi's voice stopped me. "You need to calm down," he told me, still perfectly calm himself. "I can understand that you're upset, but just calm down."

I stared at him, before taking my finger out of my mouth with exaggerated reluctance and taking a deep breath to calm myself. Tsunami wordlessly directed me to wash off in the kitchen. I hopped up on the counter and stuck my vomited-on feet under the running faucet, still keeping an ear on the conversation.

Sakura looked irritated and disgusted- same as I was feeling, actually. "Jeez, if you're just going to barf it up, don't eat!" she nagged.

Sasuke wasn't smirking anymore as he straightened, still looking at Naruto. "No," he contradicted. "I'll eat."

"I have to eat even if I have to force myself," Naruto added, meeting his gaze. "I have to get strong fast."

Kakashi nodded in appreciation. "But throwing up isn't good. Which reminds me…" He looked Sasuke in the eye. "Sasuke, that was uncalled for. I assume you know what I want you to do." Wait…was he telling Sasuke to..?

Sasuke's eyes widened in shock, but immediately he ducked his head. "Tch. Not happening."

"Sasuke," Kakashi said warningly. "Remember what I said about swallowing your pride."

"You said that to her!" he protested.

"And you could take a lesson from it as well. Go on, Sasuke."

Sasuke swore rather unprofessionally under his breath, but nevertheless shoved back his chair and trudged over to me, expression shadowed by his bangs. Feet successfully de-Sasuke-ified, I sat on the edge of the counter in front of him with arms folded and head high, waiting.

Sasuke twitched, swore again, and ducked into a bow. "Gomen ne, Takashi."

I nodded, remembering how it had felt when I had to thank him and grudgingly deciding to let him off the hook this time- before realizing Kakashi would expect me to forgive him now. Was he trying to make us comfortable with each other and kill our rivalry? "Apology accepted," I said finally, trying to get out of it.

Kakashi wouldn't have it. "And..?"

I ducked my head in embarrassment, wincing. "And…and I forgive you. Okay?" Feeling the embarrassment color my face, I added quickly, "But you're still a prick."

"And you're still annoying," Sasuke retorted, straightening- but I could see he was as uncomfortable as I was. "So… that makes us even again. Right?"

I nodded, and he stepped back so I could hop down from the counter. And we went back to our seats. Not together, or anything. He just went back to his seat at the same time I went back to mine. He copied me. Stupid Uchiha.

_**-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-**_

The rest of dinner went by without much event, and Tsunami eventually came to clear the table and bring us tea(that poor woman). Sakura decided to be nosy and go poke around, and I sat next to Uchiha and drank my tea. Mmm, jasmine.

"Um, why are you hanging a torn picture?" Sakura's voice echoed from the hall, and I twisted to see her standing in front of what was clearly a family picture hanging on the wall- but one of the members' faces was indeed torn out. "Inari-kun was watching this during dinner the entire time," she continued, looking back with a questioning look on her face. "This torn part looks like someone intentionally tore away the person who was there."

The faces of our benefactors immediately grew dark, and I realized Sakura had stumbled onto what promised to be a fairly morbid story. Part of me wanted her to say she was sorry for asking and shut up like a good little bubblehead. But now I was curious- who was the person? A black sheep, perhaps?

"It's my husband," Tsunami said finally. When she said nothing more, Tazuna continued. "He was the man known as the hero of this town." Before he could continue further, Inari suddenly got down from his chair and retreated to his room, ignoring his mother's cries of "Inari, where are you going?" Tsunami left the dishes and followed him, but not before giving Tazuna a frustrated look. "Tou-san, I told you not to talk about him in front of Inari." Then she, too, was gone.

I frowned. Was it possible that whatever had happened to this man, had caused Inari's negative outlook on heroes? Now I really wanted to hear this story.

"What's wrong with Inari-kun?" Sakura asked, obviously not comprehending that she had touched on a sore subject.

"It seems there's a reason behind this," Tazuna said finally. He looked and sounded unusually grave. "Inari had a father that wasn't related to him. They were very close, like father and son. Inari used to laugh a lot back then. But…" His fists clenched, and his voice choked. "But…" The tough old man was actually crying. Tears were running down his face and dripping onto the wooden table. "Inari changed. After the incident that happened to his father. The word 'courage' was forever taken away from the people of this island, and Inari…after that day, and that incident…"

"That incident?" Kakashi pressed gently. "What happened to Inari?"

"To explain the incident, I will need to talk about the man who was known as a hero on this island." He removed his round spectacles and wiped his eyes.

"A hero?" Naruto questioned. I shot a glare at Naruto, warning him to stop interrupting. He got the message.

He replaced his glasses, looking slightly calmer. "It was about three years ago when the man and Inari met each other. A group of boys from the village had decided to steal Pochi, Inari's dog and at that time, only friend. When Inari protested against it, Pochi was thrown into the water. Seeing his friend drowning, Inari wanted to help, but fear and an inability to swim made him remain on the docks. Even knowing this fact, the boys pushed him into the water. This isn't very important, but Pochi learned how to dog paddle then. When he made it to the shore, the boys chased after him, and completely alone, Inari sank beneath the waves. When he came to, he was lying under a blanket and a man was cooking fish over the fire. His name was Kaiza. He was a fisherman who came to this island seeking his dream. Ever since that accident, Inari started becoming attached to Kaiza. He probably became attached since he lost his father before he could remember anything. He followed him around all the time like a goldfish's feces…"

Interesting analogy there. Interesting, yet strangely accurate.

"And they became just like father and son. It didn't take long for Kaiza to become part of our family. Kaiza was also a guy that we needed in this town. One night, the dam broke in the middle of a storm. Someone had to tie a rope to the other end of the dam so it could be fixed and a part of the village wouldn't flood- but the current was so swift that any man who tried would be swept away. Yet Kaiza volunteered…not only that, but he succeeded. After that, the people here started calling Kaiza a hero, and he became a father that Inari could be proud of. Gato turned his eye on this town at around that time."

I had a bad feeling Gato would come into this story eventually.

"And one night, they captured Kaiza. He had the man tortured brutally throughout the night, and in the morning hung him up for the village, and Inari, to see. Gato warned he villagers that this was the price of interfering with his corporation…and executed Kaiza. Inari changed ever since that time. Tsunami and the people of this town as well."

I stared down at my lap numbly. That explained a lot…why Inari believed that there was no such thing as heroes…why he thought no one could win against Gato… No one deserved to go through that. Especially not someone as young as Inari had been. At this rate, he would grow to become another Sasuke- everyone in Konoha knew the story of the Uchiha massacre.

My thoughts were interrupted by a loud thud, and I looked over to see Naruto had fallen out of his chair and was now stretched out on the floor. "What are you doing, Naruto?" Sakura questioned, her tone of voice indicating she didn't think it was the time for his usual idiocy.

"If you're trying to train," Kakashi commented, catching on to his plan, "don't. You've molded too much chakra. If you move any more, you're going to die."

Naruto struggled to get up. "I'm going to prove to him," he ground out, finally rising to his feet, "that there are heroes in this world." Even though he looked like he could barely stand, he had that determined look on his face again.

"I'm going to prove it to him!"

_**-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-**_

"Morning," I muttered, coming into the kitchen and taking my place at the table. Immediately I put my head down with a yawn, too tired to care if it was disrespectful. I was not and would never be a morning person.

"Naruto didn't come back last night, either?" I heard Tazuna question, and against my best interest I listened in.

"He's stupid," Sakura answered in a tone that indicated she was just as tired as I was, "so he's been climbing trees by himself every night."

It was just too easy. I lifted my head up. "Ne, Sakura, you never know…he could be dead from excessive chakra use, like I said before."

"Stop saying that!" She mustered up enough energy to glare at me.

"What? It's not like it's your 'precious Sasuke-kun'," I pointed out. "You couldn't care less about Naruto, you've made that pretty clear."

Tsunami came with a cup of tea for me, and I forced myself to sit up and accept it. "But still," she said in a worried tone, "is Naruto-kun all right? A child staying out all night by himself…"

"There's no need to worry." Kakashi looked up from adjusting the metal on his gloves. "He is a decent ninja, even if he doesn't look like one."

"Or act like one," I mumbled, drinking my tea. "Or smell like one, or eat like one, or…"

"Suten."

"Gomen, sensei."

"I don't know about that, sensei," Sasuke cut in, continuing my line of thought- how dare he. "Maybe that usuratonkachi really is dead…" He paused a minute more, then got up from his seat and headed for the door. "I'm going for a walk."

I knew where he was really going. I took another long drink of tea, then stood. "I'm coming with you," I decided, even though I wasn't completely sure why.

Sasuke looked over his shoulder at me, apparently trying to figure me out, then nodded. "Hn. Let's go." He allowed me to catch up to him, and we continued out the door.

Sakura did not seem to take this very well, and jumped up from her chair almost desperately, because I was a female and as far as she was concerned she was the only female allowed alone with Sasuke. "I'm coming, too!"

The poor fangirl was shut down with a double blast of the word "No" as we continued on without even looking at her. I didn't know this, but Sakura stood staring at the door a while after we left, shock on her face quickly turning to anger.

Without even meaning to(or without there being any valid reason), I had just made myself her competition.

_**-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-**_

It took approximately twenty seconds after our feet left the porch of Tazuna's house for Sasuke to ask the burning question. No, not that question, the other, more expected question.

"Why did you come with me?"

I didn't bat an eyelash. "Because I know you're not just going for a walk. You're going to find Naruto. You can't drag him back by yourself; therefore, I came with you." I had another, follow-up question I really wanted to ask, but he spoke before I could.

"What makes you think I'm looking for Naruto?" He looked a little peeved that I had figured him out, but was trying not to let it show.

"Because you left right after agreeing with me that he could be dead. Which reminds me." Without any further warning I shoved him, making him stagger slightly. "No agreeing with me. We've talked about this."

He glowered. "Hn. Then quit saying things I agree with."

"Oh, really?" I tapped my chin, pretending to think. "Hmm, well, what if I said it'd be good if Naruto was dead? Do you agree with that, too?"

He was silent for a moment. "That…actually wouldn't be all bad," he mused finally.

I found myself shrugging. "True…the number of people on our team would be normal then," I pointed out.

"And we'd be rid of one of the useless people on this team," he added. "The other, of course, being…"

"Sakura," I finished. "Right. Maybe we should get rid of her, too. I think she and Naruto really just frustrate everyone."

"We could do that, but then the number of team members would be abnormal again," he reminded me. "So we'd have to find someone more capable, or somehow cope with only two genin and one Jonin." He paused, then his face went blank. "We…just had yet another civil moment."

My face was blank as well. "Oh…we did. And about killing off our teammates, no less."

In the days since Naruto had started working overtime, Sasuke and I had been spending more time alone- to get away from Sakura, of course. Don't think it was for any other reason. And for some reason, almost every time we ended up alone, we had these stupid 'civil moments', where we talked together as if we actually didn't hate each other. It was irritating. Well, it was only irritating when we realized we had been having a civil moment. The talks were kind of nice sometimes…er, that is, considering I was talking to Uchiha Sasuke. And I hated him. They were nice. Compared to the conversations we should be having. We had no problems being hateful when other people were around, believe me.

"These need to stop happening," Sasuke said finally.

"Agreed." Then I quickly caught myself. "Well, not agreed as in I'm agreeing with you, but…"

"Yeah."

"Yeah."

Incredibly awkward silence reigned for a few moments as we- as in, he and I, completely separate- continued in our quest to find the errant idiot of our team. It was then that I realized, as we were walking along, that I had forgotten to ask my burning follow-up question. "Uchiha." I really didn't like having to initiate conversation with him, but I wanted to know.

"Hn." It seemed he wasn't too keen on talking to me anymore. But at least he acknowledged I had said something.

"I wanted to ask you this a few minutes ago, but we sort of went off on a tangent."

"…what is it?" he asked finally, still sounding a little uncomfortable.

"You asked why I came with you, so…" I fidgeted a little, before reminding myself that I disliked him and there was no need to act…like this. I stopped, and he stopped with me. "Why did you let me come?"

Sasuke tensed visibly. "W-well, because…" He ducked his head. "Tch. I don't have to explain myself to you."

I frowned a little. "I explained myself to you."

"You didn't have to."

"But I wanted to." I blew my bangs off my forehead, trying to blow my uneasiness away with it. It didn't help. "Look, you're making us uneven, just tell me."

"Fine." He shot me a quick glower beneath his bangs. "Hn. Because…because, I didn't want the only other intelligent genin on this squad, going insane from overexposure to Sakura. Happy?"

A little voice told me that wasn't it, but I let it slide. Pfft, it wasn't as if he had actually sort of wanted to spend time with me. Don't make me laugh. "How would I go insane from overexposure to Sakura and her annoying self?" I asked curiously.

"The same way you said you were going to, when it was you and her on the bridge," he reminded me. "Don't tell me you could handle her whining about whether I'm dead or not for however long it'd take me to get back."

I shuddered. "I won't. So it was basically for your personal gain, so you'd have someone to talk to?" I clarified.

He turned away, but this time I saw a small hint of red on his face. "Hn. If that's how you want to see it… We're wasting time, let's go."

I stared after him as he continued up the path without another word. So I wasn't the only one who sort of- kind of- not really- almost- tolerated- liked our little chats. That was a relief- now he was as guilty as I was. Our carefully constructed rivalry was unraveling…and into what, I couldn't say for sure. But what unnerved me a little was that if it was unraveling, I wasn't really doing much to put it back together. And as far as I could tell, neither was he.

"That may be true," I finally muttered in response, hurrying to catch up. "But if Naruto's dead already, there isn't much of a point, is there?"

**I know what you're thinking! Believe me, I do! But trust me, this does not mean they like each other or anything! They're just used to hating each other...and that's why they're feeling so awkward around each other now...and yeah... **

**So they will still dislike each other! Make no mistake, that's not going to change! It'll take more than 11 chapters to get them past that. I intend on making this realistic. Which reminds me...**

***camera cuts to Sasuke and Suten tied to chairs***

**You guys are supposed to hate each other! Hate each other, for crying out loud! Stop getting together! Make with the hostility! **

**Suten: Then maybe Author-sama shouldn't have us alone so much.**

**Sasuke: Hn.**

**...I think you're forgetting something. Sasuke, Kishimoto-sama let me borrow you, and Suten, I created you! So that means you are both my pawns! And do you know what happens to little pawns who don't obey me?**

**Sasuke and Suten: *gulp***

**It's not like it will do anything to save them, but...Questions? Comments? Concerns? Please review!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Oh my gosh! Could it be? The next chapter? About time!**

**This has been the busiest summer ever. I'm hoping I can get more of a routine in once school starts. So to everyone who's assumed I gave up, or I died, or whatever, I'm sorry. Really sorry. Like, running out of excuses for my laziness sorry.**

**So anyway, next chapter of I Hate Uchiha! In this series we find Naruto, and the training exercise wraps up! Finally! Yeesh, how hard is it to climb a tree? Wait, I'm a girl, so this would be easier for me...**

**I don't own Naruto! Or Sasuke, or Inari the emo child, or Sakura the stalker-a, or Kakashi the pervert- but I do own Suten, the awesomest of all!**

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><p>We were still walking through the forest, and I was getting a little frustrated. How far out was this makeshift training field, anyway? Or had Naruto moved further out so we couldn't find him?<p>

With a sigh, I tilted my head back to stare at the sky, lacing my fingers together behind my head. The leafy green of the trees lined the clear blue of the sky, like buildings lined the streets back in Konoha. Konohagakure… was I getting homesick already? We'd only been away for…a week, now, maybe more? It wasn't as if anyone else was getting homesick- they all seemed too busy, or too stupid…

I crashed into something and stumbled back, eventually falling on my butt like the skilled ninja I was. Where had a tree come from, in the middle of a path? Grimacing, I clutched my aching head. "Ow…what the heck is a tree doing…"

It wasn't a tree. That was obvious when I looked up. Lying across from me on the path was a girl in a pink sleeveless kimono, holding her head the same as I had been a few minutes ago. Not only that, but the basket she had obviously been carrying was lying on its side, its contents scattered all over the path.

"Oh, geez," I muttered. "Look, gomen ne, I didn't see you there…" I jumped to my feet and began picking up herbs with her, trying to ignore Sasuke's taunting smirk burning into the back of my head.

"It's fine, really." She picked up the wicker basket and held it out, and we poured the plants we had collected inside. "You didn't crush any of them, so there's no harm done." Her voice sounded familiar, but I couldn't pick out where I'd heard it.

It was then I took a good look at her, and realized that she was actually really pretty- smooth pale skin, heart shaped face, long black hair, chocolate eyes. It's not that I 'swing that way' or that I'm on 'the other side of the fence'… but looking at her made me feel strangely plain, almost ugly. I stared at the ground, not sure of how to react to these new feelings of inferiority. Sasuke was staring at me again.

"I should be on my way," she said finally, bowing and walking on past us. "Please, enjoy your walk with your date."

I froze. What- did she just- she thought...

"Wait, I'm not dating him!"

She didn't seem to hear me, disappearing into the distance. I folded my arms tightly across my chest, huffing and trying to keep the red from my face. "Look, let's just find Naruto. Let her think what she wants…"

Sasuke didn't seem effected by her assumption as he stared after her, a serious look on his face. "Two things, Takashi: One, that was a boy."

I facepalmed. "Again? How many effeminate looking men are there…" I trailed off with a frown upon realizing something.

"Exactly," he confirmed, "which brings me to my second point. It's obvious that we've seen him before. Firstly from the voice and build, and second- why would a normal civilian girl be all the way out here? Collecting herbs sounds like a pretty poor excuse."

"So you're saying that was the 'assassin' that helped Zabuza?" My eyebrows furrowed. It was definitely possible. I had thought that I'd heard the voice before. And then I realized something: if I had actually felt inferior in comparison to this assassin, that meant that even a guy was prettier than me- what an ego drop.

Then at a sudden, more serious thought I went cold.

"Uchiha, if he is… then he was just coming from Naruto's direction."

Sasuke stared at me, then swore, turned and raced down the path. I wasn't far behind him. Okay, so we had made all these plans about killing him and Sakura off, but that didn't mean we wanted him dead right this second.

As it turned out, Naruto was perfectly fine. He sat on the ground with his face scrunched up in confusion. "Why?" he mumbled to himself. "What an amazing thing…the world is full of mysteries…" Sasuke and I nodded to each other, confirming we had the same thought, before approaching the meditative moron.

He barely stood a chance. Sasuke punched him in the head Sakura-style, and I twisted around and kicked him in the ribs. Naruto skidded into the dirt and lay there whining and nursing his new bruises. "Oww…what are you doing?"

Sasuke folded his arms. "Did you forget about breakfast, usuratonkachi?" he asked scornfully.

"Or sleeping more than three hours?" I added.

He stared at us as if he'd actually forgot that eating and sleeping existed…then grinned that stupid idiot grin. Sasuke looked uncomfortable, and I shuddered. It was not natural for someone to be that cheery. "Guess what," he leered finally, and made a handsign.

_**-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-**_

When Sakura and Kakashi came looking for us a few minutes later, they found Naruto lying on a branch way up on a tree, a triumphant grin on his face. So the little idiot did have something to show for all that training, I mused, watching him from the sidelines. Kudos to him. "I never thought I'd say this, but he's getting better," I commented to Sasuke, who stood beside me- because he couldn't find his own watching spot. "It looks as if you have some catching up to do."

Sasuke snorted as Naruto began flailing wildly, expecting the blonde to fall but still looking a little irritated. "Please. As if that dobe's anywhere near my level." When Naruto reattached himself to the tree and began laughing about how he'd fooled us, however, his frustration shone through. "Tch."

I folded my arms behind my head, taking a step back, my eyes trained on Naruto. "So who was the dobe, again? At this rate, you're the worst at this exercise, Uchiha."

Sasuke swore and kicked viciously at a weed. I wisely interpreted that as enough bothering him for now. There would be plenty of time to mess with him later. A strange popping-sucking sort of noise caught his attention, and he looked up to see Naruto's feet detach from the tree. "I'll get him," he muttered, though I caught a strange sort of relief on his face before he dashed off to be the hero.

Sasuke managed to catch the blonde by the foot before he could splatter all over the forest floor, dangling upside down from the same branch Naruto had been clowning around on. "Usuratonkachi," he muttered, but he seemed in a slightly better mood now that Naruto was a failure again.

Sakura, of course, started cheering happily now that all was right in the world and the incredible Sasuke had saved the day. I noticed the incredible Sasuke himself staring at me, a 'how do you like me now?' look on his face. In return I hummed and shifted my gaze away from him, displaying that I was not impressed. All this meant was that both boys were at the same level. And they still weren't on mine. I felt the heat of his glare more than saw it out of the corner of my eye…

And then another, more hostile glare made itself known, burning holes into the side of my head. I frowned a little, turning my head so my gaze locked with the sender. Sakura? Why would Sakura be glaring at me? She couldn't still be mad about my messing with her earlier. What could she possibly have against me…

Oh. I understood. She seemed to be suffering from jealousy. Now I thought about it, it must be hard for her to take, watching her precious Sasuke ignore her for me, another girl. I was 'stealing' him from her without even trying. Poor, poor demented fangirl. I flashed her a teasing grin, and she looked ready to snap and lunge at me.

Hmm… "Well, Uchiha," I said, grin still on my face, "I think it's safe to say you've got a long way to go."

Sakura's eyes were blazing. "Don't talk to Sasuke-kun like that!" she screeched. "He's amazing and-"

I waved her off mid-rant, turning and heading back up the path to Tazuna's house. "Call me when you get to the top, okay?" I called over my shoulder. Let him do something productive with his frustration.

To be honest, I sort of wanted to see how he'd do.

Because I needed to know if I had a worthy opponent. Not because I wanted him to get through this, and not because I wanted him to do well. It may seem like that, but that wasn't the case at all. Really.

_**-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-**_

Night had fallen, and Sasuke and Naruto hadn't shown all day. I ran a hand through my bangs uneasily, watching Tsunami pass out the plates for dinner. The strangest unpleasant feeling had appeared in my gut when lunch came and they didn't, and it had only intensified during the day. Maybe I shouldn't have challenged Sasuke…

Hold on. Was I actually feeling guilt?

Yes. I was actually feeling guilt. Because of Uchiha Sasuke. Just because I may or may not have goaded him into staying out training for an indefinite period of time. It's not like it would be my fault if he ended up killing himself out of stupidity. Naruto, too.

"They're late," I heard Sakura mutter. "I understand why Naruto's late, but Sasuke-kun?"

Oh, that's right. The pinkette had been giving me the evil eye ever since we got back to the house. Not to mention that during the time we were supposed to be guarding Tazuna during his construction of the bridge, I had been knocked into a steel beam, almost crushed by a falling load of bricks, and pushed over the railing. The training I'd done so well at was especially helpful with the last one.

So I'm not sure, but I think maybe Sakura doesn't like me. And yes, I'm being extremely sarcastic. Of course, when I told Kakashi that Sakura had tried to kill me, he said he would talk to her about it- and then lost himself in his porno and didn't resurface until dinner. Actually… I looked over at him and sighed. No. He was still reading.

The door opened suddenly, and everyone turned to see Naruto and Sasuke stagger in the door. Well, Naruto didn't really stagger, because Sasuke was basically holding him up, but both of them looked plenty the worse for wear. Had they given up? No, they wouldn't…but still…

"What's with you two?" Tazuna questioned. "You look dirty and tired."

Naruto lifted his head, and it amazed me how bright his grin was despite his obvious fatigue. "We both climbed to the top," he said proudly. Sasuke nodded agreement.

My eyes widened. Were they serious? Yeah, so they had been pretty close before, but to close that distance in barely a day? Given how they were doing before?

Kakashi nodded in approval. "Good. Naruto, Sasuke… you two will guard Tazuna-san tomorrow as well."

Naruto looked ecstatic. He cheered and tried to fist pump- but ended up falling on his butt and dragging Sasuke down with him. The strange thing was, Sasuke didn't even seem to mind that much. "Usuratonkachi," he muttered, but the same distaste didn't seem to be in it. The adults at the table laughed at their excitement. Then a small grin spread across my face as I realized... no more murder attempts! Now there would be witnesses!

So overall, yeah, everyone was happy. Except Inari, but that kid was barely on my radar anymore.

It took a while to realize Sasuke was watching me, and when I met his gaze, he raised an eyebrow questioningly, that same taunting look in his eyes- 'how do you like me now?'. I sighed, but it wasn't in exasperation more than amusement. Of course after meeting my challenge, he'd want some sort of acknowledgement. He was like a little kid sometimes, that Sasuke. Acting as if it didn't mean anything, I got up and came over to him, holding out a hand to help him up. "Not bad, Uchiha," I said simply. To be fair and to tick him off, I added, "Naruto, you too."

Sasuke grabbed my hand- his skin felt calloused and smooth at the same time- but paused, the faintest hint of a smirk tugging at his lips. "So, does this mean I'm on your level now?" he asked dryly.

I shook my head. "My level is unattainable…but you're pretty close." I pulled him to his feet and headed back to the table, expecting- no, not expecting! Not expecting at all- him to follow. Which he did. It was then that I realized the uncomfortable gut feeling had dissipated the second Sasuke came through the door. Darn. So it was guilt after all.

Sakura seemed to think she was losing somehow. "Y-You did great, as expected, Sasuke-kun!" she called, unwilling to be outdone by a new competitor for Sasuke's nonexistent affection.

No one even acknowledged she'd said anything. Even Naruto ignored her and stumbled to his seat at the table. Poor little Sakura…at this point, someone should rename her Wallflower.

_**-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-**_

I sighed, taking a look out at the night sky from the window. The stars and moon helped to calm my thoughts, and given the dinner fiasco, I had plenty to think about. Inari had returned to my radar with a vengeance, crying and insisting that we were all weak and that we were going to die. After the initial shock of his sudden outburst, I had endeavored to ignore him and his eight year old emo moment. But then he had said that Naruto didn't know any real pain and just laughed all the time. And that seemed to set Naruto off.

But not like Naruto normally was set off. Maybe it was because he was tired- maybe it was because Inari had struck a sore nerve- but when he spoke this time, his voice was cold and hard. And then HE was the one storming off.

To be honest, I could see why Naruto would get upset. No real pain? He had been the village outcast all his life for a reason yet to be disclosed, and seemed to fail incredibly at everything he did. Not to mention Sakura (whatever the heck he saw in her) constantly rejected him.

"Takashi."

Speak of the devil and she shall appear. Sighing, I turned to see Sakura standing in the doorframe, arms folded across her flat chest and weight shifted to one hip. "Don't call me that," I responded carelessly. "The tough girl act doesn't work for you."

"We need to talk," she informed me icily.

"About?"

"Sasuke-kun."

"Figures."

"You stay away from him," she warned me. "I don't know what you're doing to make him interested in you, but stop it! Sasuke-kun is mine!"

I shook my head. "How am I supposed to change his interests?" I pointed out. "It's not my fault if he prefers the honest truth and a challenge to easy and unwarranted praise."

Unsurprisingly, she took this the wrong way. "He does not prefer you over me!" she insisted, contradicting herself. "I'm prettier and smarter than you in every way!"

I couldn't resist. "Prettier and smarter? For one: pink hair and green eyes? You look like a genetic experiment gone horribly wrong."

"H-hey!"

"And two: book smarts will get you nowhere in life. You don't have the common sense to see the issue in going after a guy that clearly wants nothing to do with you- honestly, I think he's asexual."

Her eyes flared up like green flames burning in her head. "Sasuke-kun," she screeched so loudly I was sure she'd wake the rest of the household, "is not asexual! He's just playing hard to get! That's what he does!"

I really should have shut up. I really should have let her whine. But no, I had to push her more.

"Playing hard to get? I know all about that. That's what Uchiha and I have been doing all along."

As quickly as the flames had come, they vanished. Sakura, so quickly deflated, stared at me in shock, her mouth moving like a fish, her eyes bugging near out of her head. She looked…smaller, somehow. Slightly defeated. I opened my mouth to say something else- but she actually beat me to it. "Sasuke-kun…Sasuke-kun will be mine. Just stay out of my way!" And she turned on her heel and stormed out the door.

I frowned a little, mulling over the exchange as I lowered myself onto my mat to sleep. Where had that come from? I had teased Sakura about Sasuke before: it was too easy to get her riled over him. But not about us having a secret relationship or whatever story I'd cooked up. I must be getting seriously twisted…

Staring up at the ceiling, I realized that Sakura was going to have to come back in here eventually, because this room was where all her things were. I closed my eyes and turned to the wall, deciding to keep an ear out. For all I knew she might get the idea to slit my throat in my sleep.

And from what I'd just put in her head, she'd do it, too.

**Hmm, is it true? Have they really just been playing hard to get with each other all along?**

**No. They don't like each other. Don't get your hopes up yet, readers. They're warming up to each other over this mission, but it's not like they'll be all kissy-kissy overnight. I'd never write that; too cliche.**

**So glad I finally got this chapter out to you! It's been eating at me all week! This calls for fruit snacks, and juice! Until next time.**

**Questions? Comments? Concerns? Please review!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Yay, another chapter! This is an important part, and is apparently going to be very long, so because I'm getting frustrated with how much I have to write, I'm going to post the next part a little later. Not that much later! It should be up tomorrow...**

**In this chapter, Zabuza and Haku return, and we have- let's see...Sasuke and Suten having an early morning fight- and Sasuke and Suten working together? Le gasp!**

**You all know the drill- I own Suten and my laptop, and my meh-worthy writing skills! And that is all!**

* * *

><p>I had never really appreciated actually waking up to the early morning sunlight streaming in through the window. I'd just taken my life for granted, that there would always be another sunrise for me. But now that I had spent a night fearing for my life(the first of many, considering my profession) maybe I could appreciate these things a little more.<p>

"Too…bright…"

I winced and covered my face with the blanket. Okay, maybe not that much.

It took a few more seconds for me to actually get up and get ready for the day. I tied my dark hair back into my usual ponytail, then secured my hitai-ate around my head. Oh, right: Sasuke and Naruto had mastered the tree climbing thing, so now they could go with us and I didn't have to worry about any crazy Sakura attacks. "Yay," I muttered to myself, in a less enthusiastic tone than I had wanted. Maybe I would perk up after there was food in my stomach.

Upon sliding into a seat at the table and accepting a bowl of steamed rice, the first thing I noticed was a frustrated Sakura, sitting across the table and glaring at me over her broiled fish. I gave her a 'you can't touch me here' look, snapping my chopsticks apart and digging into my rice with a low, "Itadakimasu."

Sasuke joined us a second later, and immediately Sakura quit glaring at me and devoted all her energy into the brightest, sunniest, most loving, "Good morning, Sasuke-kun," she could muster. Sasuke just hn-ed and took a bowl of rice as well.

I hated to be the one to have to ask, but it seemed like no one would and I was sort of curious. "Has anyone seen Naruto?" I questioned, chopsticks reaching out and snapping up a piece of fish before Sasuke's could reach it, depositing it on my plate. He glowered at me, and I stuck a bite into my mouth out of spite.

"Glad to see my students worried about their teammates," Kakashi told me, joining our little party at the breakfast table and nodding to Tazuna, who I hadn't even seen until now. "Naruto overworked himself, so we're allowing him to sleep in."

Sasuke grabbed the rest of MY broiled fish off MY plate, ignoring my shocked and irritated cry, and ate another bite. "That usuratonkachi," he muttered, "pushing himself so hard for nothing."

My chopsticks seized the fish, but this time Sasuke was quicker and grabbed it with his own. A fierce tug of war ensued, the two of us locking deadly glares as the fish strained in both directions. This wasn't even about the breakfast item anymore. I didn't even like fish that much. No, this was about winning.

A kunai flashed down between our faces, neatly chopping the prize in half and making us both lose our balance. Startled at the unexpected conclusion to the battle, we looked up to find Kakashi standing over us, an exasperated look on what I could see of his face. "It's a piece of fish. Not worth this much hostility over," he reminded us flatly. But I could tell he knew it was about more than the fish, because he continued, "If you two aren't mature enough to handle this mission, I can just leave you back here and have you look after Naruto. Would you like that?"

There was a pause as we both thought this over. I made up my mind pretty quick. "No, sensei," I muttered, Sasuke echoing me a second later.

"Good." His eye closed in what could be considered a pleasant smile. "Now eat up."

"Please take care of Naruto," Kakashi requested as we stood outside the door. "He used his body to the max, so I don't think he'll be able to move for today."

"Yes," I said under my breath. "Take care of Naruto. Because I'm sure as heck not doing it."

"Did you say something, Suten?"

"Nothing, sensei."

The walk up to the bridge construction site was blissfully quiet without Naruto to cause friction. I hummed softly, closing my eyes and enjoying the feel of the soft wind ruffling my bangs. Maybe today something interesting might actually happen.

"So, Sasuke-kun…"

My eyes snapped open, and I groaned inwardly. Oh, no. I'd forgotten about this. I noticed that Tazuna and Kakashi were walking farther ahead, apparently leaving Sasuke, me, and worst of all Sakura to socialize.

Sakura, by the way, was all cozied up to Sasuke, trying to look as cute and demure as possible. "Now that Naruto's gone, I was thinking…"

"I'm still here," I reminded her with a hint of irritation. "And I hear thinking's pretty dangerous for those with brightly colored hair."

Sakura stopped, then glared at me over her shoulder. "Takashi," she growled. "Get lost. Sasuke-kun and I are trying to have a conversation."

I shook my head. "What did I say about calling me Takashi?" I reminded her. "The tough angle doesn't work for you. You only scare Naruto."

Sakura snarled and looked ready to pounce when Sasuke interrupted what would have been a one-sided catfight. "Knock it off. We're almost there."

I sighed as we stepped onto the bridge. Watching the construction got boring after a while. "Why? It's not like anything's going to…" I trailed off, and it wasn't hard to see why.

Construction workers lay sprawled everywhere on the bridge, all battered and terribly bruised. Some were groaning in pain. Others could barely remain conscious. Time seemed to freeze on the shocking scene, and I took a step back, sucking in a breath. Who would do something like this?

As soon as I thought the question, the answer came just as easily.

"W-What is this?" Tazuna demanded, visibly shaken. "What's going on? What happened?" The old bridge builder clearly was at a loss of how to handle a disaster like this. Even the ever-calm Sasuke had lost his nerve. And I couldn't blame him.

I stifled a moan as thick mist began rolling in from the sides of the bridge. We'd barely survived the last time this had happened. I'd known he was going to come back at some point- but now, while we were one man short? One annoying and mainly useless, but still counting man short?

"Suten, Sasuke, Sakura! He's coming!" Kakashi's voice broke me out of my momentary panic, and we quickly backed into manji formation. The deja-vu rang strongly for me as a kunai knife found its way into my hand, and I held it out, forcing myself to peer into the whiteness, straining for some hint of movement, because I didn't want to go suicidal again... Why did I have to be protecting Tazuna's front?

"Kakashi-sensei, this is his Kirigakure no Jutsu, right?" I was actually glad Sakura had broken the mind breaking silence- even though nobody bothered to answer her- but geez, couldn't she have picked a less obvious question? Then again, painfully obvious was her specialty, I reminded myself, recalling her comment about how she couldn't see anything through the fog. That's right, Suten, make fun of Sakura. Make fun of Sakura and don't think about the fact that you could be dead at any second…

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Kakashi…"

The gruff voice echoed out of the mist, and immediately my grip tightened on my kunai knife. "And you're still dragging along those kids. He's trembling again- how pitiful."

He? Naruto wasn't here, so that meant… I turned my head to see Sasuke was indeed trembling, the kunai knife in his hand shaking badly. No- Sasuke couldn't be afraid! If he was afraid, and Naruto wasn't here, that meant we genin were all doomed to be useless again- this time we could even die… Maybe it was up to me? Maybe I could do something…

Pfft, yeah, right. I didn't even know any good jutsus. All I could do was climb a freaking tree. I really hated to admit it, but I was about as useful as Sakura at the moment.

Later I would kick myself for this monologue.

Without warning, Zabuza appeared in a crouch right in front of me, giant sword partially lifted from his shoulder. Even worse, in my peripheral vision I could see more of them close by. We were surrounded.

I heard a low chuckle and immediately tensed, but it didn't sound like Zabuza. Turning, I saw the familiar smirk on Sasuke's face, his onyx eyes gleaming. He…wasn't afraid?

"I'm shaking…with excitement."

I stared at him, stunned. This meant…we were gonna live! That or at least, die fighting. Which, I decided, adjusting my grip with newfound determination, I now fully intended to do.

"Go for it, Sasuke," Kakashi said simply, and the Zabuza in front of Sasuke lunged with a yell. Sasuke, unworried, dove into action, splitting first that clone, then the ones around us in rapid succession. It was incredible how quickly and efficiently he worked, and thought I was itching to join the fight, I knew not to get in his way. He returned to his spot without a sound, the clones bursting into harmless water simultaneously.

"Oh? He can defeat the water clones. That kid got stronger." The real Zabuza stepped out of the mist near the other side of the bridge. Beside him stepped his mysterious accomplice. "A rival has appeared for you, Haku."

"It seems like it," Haku replied simply, in his unnaturally feminine voice. Maybe I should call Haku it- attaching gender pronouns to… Haku was so confusing.

There was a silence at that point, as we all stared each other down. "Well, well," Kakashi said finally. "It seems my prediction was right."

"Your prediction?" Zabuza didn't sound like he cared, more like he may as well hear what Kakashi had to say.

"The masked guy."

I shook my head at Sakura's shocked cry. Apparently she'd completely forgot what we had talked about the day after the first fight. "It looks like it," I agreed with Kakashi. "So I was right after all."

"Just as I thought, too," Sasuke added, dropping a 'Hn' as a signature, and I resisted the urge to facepalm at his blatant copying. Whose spiel about hunter nin and weapons had led to Kakashi's suspicions?

"So it really was a lie," Tazuna elaborated, more for Sakura's sake than everyone else's, "that he was a Kirigakure hunter nin."

"He's on Zabuza's side, no matter how you look at it," Kakashi finished. "They're lined up so nicely." I could no longer tell if he was being serious at that point. His voice was so light and casual.

Now that Sakura had an idea of what page we were on, she decided now was a time as good as any to add in her own input. "Who does he think he is," she asked in a scornful tone, "coming out like that?"

As Kakashi and Sakura went off into a sort of anti-Haku conversation, I noticed Sasuke was staring Haku down, a look of intense concentration in his eye. What was this guy thinking now? I could hardly read him, he could be admiring the swirls on Haku's mask for all I knew- who apparently, by vote of majority, was a he.

"I'll fight him," Sasuke announced at last, managing to gain the attention of everyone on the bridge. "He pulled that stupid act on us. I hate conceited guys like that."

I gritted my teeth as Sakura cooed over Sasuke being so cool. This kid could be stronger than Kakashi- and just because he'd lied and made us all feel inferior, Sasuke was planning to fight this guy one on one? "Conceited guys?" I repeated, just loud enough that he could hear. "What does that make you? Thinking you can take this guy on by yourself."

Sasuke's gaze cut toward me for a moment, but instead of being irritated, he seemed to be thinking. "Takashi," he decided finally. "Back me up."

The ordered request startled me for a minute. Was this Uchiha Sasuke admitting not only that I was right, but that he needed my help? Or was this him trying to make me work under him, be his sidekick of sorts in this fight? But I had intended to fight this time, and sidekick or not, this was my only option. "Right," I accepted with a nod, coming to stand beside him.

Haku seemed to want to wait a while before attacking, instead choosing to study Sasuke. "He's quite a boy," he commented with something akin to curiosity. "Even if a water clone has only a tenth of the original person's power, he dealt with those clones well."

Zabuza didn't seem quite as curious. "But we made the first move," he stated, in a tone that marked the end of conversation. "Go."

Haku got the message. "Hai."

A miniature tornado formed almost out of nowhere, half obscuring Haku in swirling, screaming winds. When I looked closely I could see the so-called hunter nin whirling furiously in the center of the funnel, acting like a spinning top as he and the tornado made their way closer and closer to us. As he moved within range, I raised my kunai to eye level and shifted into an offensive stance. "All right," I muttered, more to myself than for the benefit of others. "Let's do this."

Haku blocked not only my kunai, but Sasuke's as well with two senbon needles he seemingly conjured out of nowhere. The three of us struggled for a while, the world around me seeming to blur until only three elements remained: the mist, Sasuke, and Haku. I was vaguely aware of Kakashi giving some sort of orders, maybe even my name, but it was meaningless in the clang of weaponry clashing together, parried again and again. Seeking an opening, I spun for Haku's back, but he twisted at the same time and deflected me, still managing to keep Sasuke at bay with his other senbon.

"I don't want to kill either of you." Haku spoke in a soft voice, surprising me, but not enough to keep me from fighting back. "But you won't back off, will you?"

"That sounds about right," I replied simply, and Sasuke added, "What are you, stupid?" That small part in the back of my mind wondered if Haku really was hesitant to kill us, or if he was trying to distract us. Again, I filed that away for later contemplation.

Haku didn't seem surprised. "I thought as much," he said ambiguously. "But you won't be able to keep up with me for my next move. And I'm already two steps ahead of you."

"Two steps ahead?" Sasuke prodded, and I realized he was trying to keep Haku talking. As useless as this standstill was, if we could get Haku to reveal what he had planned we might actually have a chance. Then again, this all depended on how much Haku underestimated us.

"The first one is the water on the ground," Haku responded. "And the second one is that I'm keeping one of both your arms busy. Therefore, you can only take and block my attacks."

"Then what does the water have to do with anything?" I questioned.

Haku only broke the lock of his weapon and mine, swiping his senbon towards my unprotected side. Instead of blocking it this time, I rotated back around so I was shoulder to shoulder with Sasuke again, clashing my kunai with the needle again.

Then I noticed Sasuke's kunai was on that same needle. Meaning I had left one of Haku's hands free.

"This," Haku stated in reply to my previous enquiry, the hand I had just neglected raising to his mask, then whipping through several strange motions. I realized in shock that he was performing one-handed handsigns. "Hijutsu: Sensatsu Suisho."

The water on the ground that had been Zabuza's water clones now rose into the air around us. It hung suspended as I watched it from out of the corner of my eye…then formed into razor sharp needles of ice.

Oh. That's what the water had to do with anything.

"Remember the training!" Sasuke hissed, fingers in the same handsign we'd used for the tree climbing exercise. Almost as soon as he said it, I realized what he had in mind, but I highly doubted it would work. Then again, the fact remained that Sasuke had a plan, and I didn't. I quickly began molding my chakra toward my legs, forcing myself to remain calm as I heard the needles coming toward me.

Now wasn't the time for doubts, I told myself firmly…and jumped.

I counted it as a good sign when I didn't feel the sting of sharp needles sinking into my flesh from every direction. I did feel the warmth of what I assumed was blood spreading across my hand- so I had gotten nicked after all. Well, one nick was better than becoming a porcupine. My eyes opened- when had I squeezed them shut?- and I looked down below at the cloud of vaporized ice and water- all that was left of the once deadly needles. So then when had I..? I looked over at my supposedly injured hand…and immediately my face burned red.

Sasuke was holding my hand.

Yes, you read that right. The Uchiha Sasuke was holding my hand. He must have grabbed it when I wasn't looking, in case I didn't jump high enough. O-obviously because he didn't want to lose his partner and have to go up against Haku alone. Only an idiot would think otherwise… I ended up not having to say anything about it, because he glanced over, and quickly withdrew his hand from mine, suddenly finding something more interesting to look at on the ground below.

And, oh, look, a more important topic- where was Haku?

I spotted him and dove towards him, glad to be able to focus as I threw shuriken at the 'hunter nin'. He was forced to go into defense mode to avoid my attacks, jumping back as I pressed him on. My hands hit the ground first, automatically pushing off to allow me to land properly on my feet, only a while away from Haku. Just my way of landing in style.

Sasuke appeared behind our common enemy, a smirk on his face and a kunai in his hand. "You're pretty slow," he taunted, before throwing Haku's words back at him. "Now, you can only take and block my attacks."

Haku quickly twisted around to block Sasuke's attack with his forearm, but Sasuke flicked the kunai toward the rogue's face. Running out of options, Haku ducked to avoid the weapon just as I ran up…and both Sasuke and I kicked Haku in the face.

It was immensely satisfying to see Haku go flying into the air, then skidding into the ground at Zabuza's feet. Obviously it was going to take more than that to take him down- but we'd finally got a hit on him, even sent him flying! We'd at least earned the right to be taken seriously.

Zabuza didn't seem able to believe this. "Haku lost," he murmured, "in speed?" He stared at his protégé, who was still on the ground.

"Looks like I'm faster," Sasuke commented with a grin. I folded my arms behind my head with feigned nonchalance, nodding in agreement.

Kakashi looked pretty proud. "You can't make fun of our team just because we have kids," he told Zabuza. "Sasuke happens to be the number one rookie of Konoha. Sakura is the village's most shrewd genin. Suten's agility and taijutsu are better than any in her year. And the other one is Konoha's number one, hyperactive, knucklehead ninja- Naruto."

Although we had no way of knowing it, somewhere on a pier outside Tazuna's house, Naruto sneezed.

Zabuza stared at us for a moment, took a good look at all of our determined faces…and laughed. He laughed, and laughed, and laughed a little more. "Haku," he spoke finally when he'd gotten over his sudden fit of laughter. "Do you realize that you're going to get defeated this way?"

Haku got to his feet, evidently all business now. "Yes," he replied simply. Strange blueish ribbons of light erupted around him without warning, fluttering in an invisible wind.

"What is that?" Sasuke murmured, staring at Haku apprehensively. I got out of my relaxed stance, shifting into defensive once more. The air seemed to be growing colder.

"It's a shame," Haku told us ambiguously, his fingers weaving into an odd handsign. An odd crackling noise came from behind me, and I turned to see what looked like a rectangular piece of ice, forming from a pillar that had risen from the ground. Now that I looked around, more of the rectangles seemed to be appearing, curving up to the sky and creating a sort of ring around us.

'Haku no Hijitsu: Makyo Hosho.'

All the rectangles seemed to glow white, and Haku stepped into one, appearing in its surface. I took a step back, not liking where this was headed as suddenly, I could see Haku in all the rectangles- mirrors, I realized. Not rectangles, these were mirrors, all around us.

"Let's begin," came Haku's voice, seemingly from all the mirrors at the same time. "I will show you my true speed."

I turned to escape through the gaps in the mirrors, but a senbon slicing through the skin of my hip stopped me dead. Another cut into my arm, another at my cheek, and suddenly my whole body was under attack from the weapons I had deemed unreliable. I curled up into a protective ball, unable to stop cries of pain from escaping gritted teeth as my skin was split and numerous wounds opened. My skin felt like one big mass of consistently opening papercuts, and the cold air was like salt and lemon juice. So for those of you who don't understand- yes, it freaking hurt.

I wasn't completely sure when, but eventually I realized the painful needle rain had stopped. In order for my brain to still work for me to realize that, I must still be alive. I slumped to the ground with a thankful groan, covered in blood and agony. "Ne, Uchiha," I whispered, turning my head as I remembered I was not alone in this torture chamber. "Got any ideas…?"

Sasuke was staring at Haku, who had come partially out of one of the lower ice mirrors. A kunai was held in one hand- a kunai positioned perfectly for stabbing. So, he planned on ending it now? Strange, I actually wasn't okay with dying just yet.

A shuriken whizzed out of nowhere and caught Haku on the mask, knocking him square out of the mirror, where he promptly faceplanted on the ground. It looked as if someone else wasn't okay with me dying yet, either. When a large cloud of smoke erupted nearby, I knew just who the person was. His timing was uncanny, that was for sure. But the flashy entrance really wasn't necessary.

The smoke cleared, revealing the last member of Team Kakashi. "Uzumaki Naruto," he said, flashing a determined grin, "has arrived!"

* * *

><p><strong>OMG Naruto! He finally decided to show up! Yays! Now Suten and Sasuke are as good as saved! <strong>

**Or maybe not. This is Naruto we're talking about, after all. Sasuke, Suten, tell me something?**

**Sasuke: Hn.**

**Taking that as a yes. What's better: 100 hits, 10 favorites and follows, or 1 review?**

**Suten: ...well, you know people are reading your story with hits, you know they like it with favorites and follows, but reviews tell you what they actually think. So... 1 review.**

**Sasuke: What she said.**

**Suten: -.-**

**You heard it from them, folks! I'd rather have reviews than favorites, follows, and hits, and so would any author! Tell me what you think! Tell me!**

**Questions? Comments? Concerns? Please review!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Hrrgyrrgh, I suck. Why is this fight so freaking long?**

**Okay, I lied. Because this fight is so long, and so important, and I'm out of time because I have school tomorrow, I'm going to have to divide this into not two, but three chapters. And hopefully three will be all. Because I wanna get to what I have next after this arc asdfghjkl *throws tantrum***

**Sasuke: Hn. While Author-sama is having a temper tantrum, she wants you to know she doesn't own Naruto, or me, or this ridiculously long fight that is taking her a long time to write out. **

**Suten: But she does own me. Unfortunately.**

**I heard that! On with the show!**

* * *

><p>A shuriken whizzed out of nowhere and caught Haku on the mask, knocking him square out of the mirror, where he promptly faceplanted on the ground. It looked as if someone else wasn't okay with me dying yet, either. When a large cloud of smoke erupted nearby, I knew just who the person was. His timing was uncanny, that was for sure. But the flashy entrance really wasn't necessary.<p>

The smoke cleared, revealing the last member of Team Kakashi. "Uzumaki Naruto," he said, flashing a determined grin, "has arrived! Heh- now that I'm here, everything's going to be just fine. The main character of a story usually appears like this and defeats the enemy in a flash!"

Okay… arrogance and idiocy and non-stealthiness aside- Naruto's appearance could still work to our benefit. Somehow.

"All right, let's do this," Naruto cheered, bringing his hands together in his favorite ninja handsign. "Kage Bunshin no-"

Apparently Zabuza had gotten sick of the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. Without warning he launched four shuriken at the brightly clad boy. Naruto, not expecting his enemy to launch a counter attack while he was doing his special jutsu, stood there and panicked like the idiot he was.

Haku launched senbon at the flying shuriken, stopping them harmlessly in midair and effectively shocking all of us. Including Zabuza.

"Haku… saved Naruto?" I questioned, trying to push myself up so I could see better.

Tazuna didn't seem to get what had just happened. "How lucky," he commented. "The enemy's attacks collided with each other." He was a civilian, so he couldn't be expected to understand: luck hardly existed in the ninja world.

Seeing as the danger was past, the others of our team decided it was time to begin lecturing Naruto on his numerous failures.

"Hey, what are you doing, Naruto?"

"What kind of idiot tries to execute jutsu right in front of the enemy?"

Naruto whined like a scolded puppy as Kakashi tore into him about stealth, seemingly not expecting to get yelled at, either. "I only came here to help, though," he insisted finally, clutching his head in shame.

I ignored Naruto for the moment, focusing in on Haku. What reason did he have to help Naruto? Zabuza wanted to know the answer to this as well. "Haku, what's the meaning of this?" he asked harshly.

Haku rose. "Zabuza-san. Leave him to me. Please let me do this fight my way."

Zabuza considered for a minute. "So you don't want me to interefere, Haku." He looked over at his protégé scornfully. "As usual, you're too easy on the enemy."

Too easy on the enemy? I thought, able to sit back on my heels as Sasuke made it to one knee. Now he said it, Zabuza made a good point. Haku seemed to just be torturing us right now- we should be at least stuck full of needles, if not dead.

So why, I wondered with narrowed eyes, swiping a thumb across my bloody mouth, did he want to take on Naruto? Was he really that much of a sadist? Or was there something else?

"All right then," Naruto said determinedly, his bravado up once more. "I'm going to beat you first."

Kakashi made to step in, but Zabuza blocked him. "Don't think of anything strange now," he warned. "If you move, you know what's going to happen to that geezer, right? Let's observe how the young ones will fight, shall we?"

Sasuke seemed to have gotten his bearings back as well, picking up the kunai knife he had dropped on the ground. Haku and Naruto seemed to be engaged in some kind of standoff, so naturally Sasuke took this as his chance to launch the kunai through the gaps in the ice mirrors, straight at Haku's face.

This time Haku was prepared for surprise attacks and, leaning his head back, dodged it. I frowned at the failure, but noticed Naruto now peering into the gap between the mirrors. He seemed shocked to find Sasuke and I trapped inside, probably wondering what we were doing in there. "Sasuke? Suten?"

Sasuke and I had been missing this entire time, and he couldn't have thought the giant structure of ice mirrors was decoration. Where the heck had he thought we were? On second thought, considering it was Naruto, I didn't want to know.

"I didn't forget about you two," Haku informed us nonchalantly, before turning toward us. "I would have liked for you to just lie there quietly, but I guess I can't expect that. Very well. I will finish the match with you first."

I ground my teeth as the rogue nin melted into the ice mirror in front of us, ready for round two of torture whether we were or not. "Nice going, Uchiha," I hissed.

"Urusai," he responded sharply, a hand creeping toward his kunai pouch. He actually thought this was going to work?

"This way."

The voice came from behind, and when I looked back, Haku was in an ice mirror behind us, senbon needles in hand. But- how had he moved?

Suddenly, the rogue nin was everywhere, flickering into being in all the mirrors, all armed. I tensed, covering my face just as the shower of needles and pain began. It wasn't long before screams tore from my throat. Round two- with a vengeance.

This round seemed shorter than the first, and I found myself on my hands and knees, gasping and panting- you people are perverts, that's not even close to what was going on.

How was he doing this? I couldn't tell. Was it just clones in the mirrors, attacking at the same time- but no, why would he need the mirrors then? There had to be some reason they were there. All I knew is that they allowed him to attack us on the inside, and everyone else on the outside. In order to figure out the nature of these mirrors…we'd have to do a dual attack: Sasuke from the inside and Naruto from the outside. That way, we could-

"Hey, I came to help you guys!"

Startled, I saw Naruto crouching in front of us with a wide, I'm-awesome grin on his face. "Are you okay, Sasuke?" he taunted.

My eye twitched. "You…you just…Naruto, what the heck do you think you're doing?" I yelled. All that planning gone down the drain…

"Usuratonkachi!" Sasuke added, looking equally peeved. "You're a ninja, you're supposed to think first! You're not supposed to get in here with us!"

Naruto looked annoyed that his efforts were once again being picked at. "What's with that attitude? I came to help you!"

I facepalmed, and winced. "If this was all it took, why don't you think someone else hasn't had your 'brilliant' plan already? Or better yet- why haven't we broken ourselves out?"

He tilted his head. "Well, I thought with my Kage Bunshin no Jutsu-"

"SCREW YOUR KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!" we both screamed at him. Sasuke continued, "There are situations where making copies of yourself isn't helpful! If you come into the mirrors as well…" He looked ready to say something else, but seemingly gave up and turned away, frustrated. "Tch! Forget it, baka."

The failure wasn't through. "Baka? What do you mean, baka?"

"Baka," I answered for Sasuke, who was getting to his feet, "because with one act of rashness and idiocy, you've basically killed us all!"

The Uchiha began whipping through handsigns. "I'll just have to destroy the mirrors, then!" he growled. 'Katon!'

The blonde gawked, confused. "What are you going to do?"

"These are mirrors made of frozen water," Sasuke hinted, before sucking in a deep breath. 'Gokyakku no Jutsu!"

"Big Bad Wolf style," I murmured expectantly.

The giant flaming fireball spewed out of his mouth and into the air, bright oranges and reds reflecting off the bleak ice of the prison. I got ready to run for the exit- but stopped when the blaze died down, revealing the mirrors looking a little wet on the surface, but overall completely intact. My eyebrows furrowed. "Why didn't..?"

"It didn't work at all!" Naruto exclaimed obviously, making me want to punch him.

"It won't melt with that kind of firepower," Haku informed us in his usual ambiguous way. The mirrors glowed bright white suddenly, and we were thrown back harshly, landing hard on our backs. That was going to hurt in the morning…if there was a morning after this. Wasn't it still morning, actually?

Naruto seemed unwilling to quit. "Where is he attacking from?" he demanded, jumping to his feet. I envied his stamina. "Are those clones? Where's the real one?"

"There's no use trying to follow me with your eyes," Haku insisted, sounding almost smug now. "I will never be caught."

In the moment of unplanned desperation, Naruto only knew one thing to do.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

A group of orange clad ninjas sprang into being, leaping at the mirrors with fists raised. "Then I'll destroy all the mirrors and see which one is real!"

Naruto's attempt at destroying the mirrors was about as successful as Sasuke's, but this time Haku actually had to put forth effort. The images…clones…whatever they were burst out of the mirrors, almost bouncing from surface to surface as they made short work of the clones- and the real Naruto, I noted, as the blonde came crashing back to earth. "It didn't work at all," I informed Naruto in my best imitation of his whiny voice. He growled, evidently frustrated.

Haku began to talk, and immediately I listened in. When an enemy felt confident, he could give away key hints as to how to beat him. I'd learned that in the Academy on one of the days I'd paid attention. "This is a traveling technique," the rogue nin informed us, "that utilizes mirror reflections that only reflect me. From my speed, you three look like you're standing still."

I heard Kakashi gasp from outside the prison. "That must be a kekkei genkai," he breathed in shock. Ooh, more information. It was also good to gain information from senior ninja who'd been around, so to speak. "It's the same kind of thing as my Sharingan. They are techniques that are passed down through deep blood relations and through the genealogy of those with superior body structures. Even I can't copy this technique. And there is no way to get past this technique."

What? But there had to be… My fists clenched tightly, but there was no point. "I was hoping for something a little better than 'There's no way to escape'," I murmured, trying to sound lighthearted.

"Well, so what?" Naruto gritted his teeth, not hearing me and still not willing to accept defeat. "I can't die here…I still have a dream I need to achieve…" He lifted his head to glare at Haku, quivering with what looked like rage. "The dream to make the villagers recognize me, and become the Hokage!"

The ice rogue stared at Naruto, and it was then that I realized that was the only Haku I could see right now. "It is," he said finally, in a softer voice, "difficult for me, to become a pure ninja. If possible, I do not want to kill you, and I do not want you to kill me. However, if you are going to fight me," his feminine voice hardened, "I will kill my compassion with a blade and become a ninja. This bridge is a battleground that leads to the dreams of many people. I will fight for my dream, and you will fight for your dream. Please do not hold any grudges. I want to protect an important person. I want to work for him, fight for him, and make his dreams come true."

Was he talking about…Zabuza? Okay, Haku had to be a girl now…or at least an unnaturally effeminate boy, as everyone seemed to think.

"That is my dream," Haku said firmly. "In order to make it come true, I will become a ninja." A senbon needle appeared in his…her…Haku's fingers, and instinctively I tensed. "I will kill you!"

Without really knowing why, I forced myself to get to my feet, not at all surprised when Sasuke and Naruto joined me. If this was going to be my last hour alive, and there was no way out, and I wasn't going to die fighting like I planned, but trapped like a dog…now I'd just depressed myself even more and forgotten what positive thing I was going to say.

"Just because I screwed up the first time," Naruto insisted, grim determination in his gaze, "doesn't mean I'm going to quit. I'll try as many times as I need to!" He began whipping through handsigns, driven now by sheer stubbornness and unwilling to admit defeat. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

I wanted to yell at him to stop, like Sasuke did, or maybe that he'd only waste his chakra- but for some reason I didn't. I just stood by and watched the brightly clad army soar into action, only to be again taken down one by one by the Hakus jumping in and out of the mirrors. While the rogue nin was occupied, I turned to ask Sasuke if he had any ideas- but he was staring almost intently at the spectacle above us, as if confining it to memory… or trying to track the movements. But that was impossible- Haku's speed here was ridiculous. He was moving so fast it looked like he'd cloned himself- trying to track his movements would be like trying to track a hummingbird's wings- a hummingbird on sugar rush.

Too late I saw the incoming needles in my peripheral vision, and Sasuke and I were treated to another light shower of needles and pain, courtesy of Haku. I landed hard on my shoulder afterwards, dusted with a new layer of painful slices and sticky blood. "Ow," I forced out, trying to get up and wincing as my shoulder throbbed. "That didn't-"

My words were effectively cut off by the aforementioned 90-something pounds of jumpsuited moron- except this time he was using me to break his fall. Intense, white-hot pain shot up through my shoulder, and I couldn't help the scream that escaped my teeth.

"A-AAH! NARUTO..!"

Naruto got off me as quickly as he could, and I could feel him watching me as I struggled to push myself up to a sitting position, fingers digging into the skin of my agonized joint. Through the haze of pain, I saw Sasuke staring at me in shock. His fists clenched, and he turned back to the ice mirrors with teeth clenched, apparently trying to think and getting frustrated. He didn't still think he could track the movements, could he? Even then, what good would it do now?

"One more time," Naruto insisted, glancing back at me to make sure he didn't crash into me again. This time Sasuke didn't try to stop him. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Instead of watching Naruto fail once more, I kept my eyes on Sasuke as he ran forward and kicked a spray of water into the air. His face contorted into an expression of utmost concentration, as if he honestly believed he could see like Haku did. I had an idea of what he was trying to do- some of the water droplets would disappear before others as our enemy went through them- but surely he didn't think..?

I winced at not only Naruto, but Sasuke's screams as Haku tore into them midair- he seemed to have gotten tired of allowing Sasuke to experiment. At first I thought Haku no longer saw me as a priority and was sparing me for now- but an extra torrent of senbon let me know he still planned on beating me up with the others. How nice of him to think of me.

Both boys slammed into the ground on their backs, and luckily, not on me. But this time it was Sasuke who got right back up, from the look on his face still thinking hard. Since he seemed to be the only one forming some sort of strategy(cloning and attacking over and over wasn't really strategic, after all), I would have given anything to know what he had in mind. "Ne," I began, my voice tight due to the amount of pain I was in. "Uchiha…"

"Don't move," he told me, not taking his eyes off the reflections. Then he added, in a lower voice, "The next time he attacks is when I'll make my move."

What? He actually did have something figured out? Interested, I shifted into a better sitting position, watching closely as Naruto burst into clones and charged the mirrors yet again. Just as I saw the first blur appear from the mirrors- a stream of bright flame shot forth from Sasuke's mouth.

Haku changed direction. Even I could see that. He had to move to dodge the fire! But… had it been luck?, I wondered as the clone assassination continued as normal. Or had Sasuke actually tracked it? I realized that only two Narutos were left now, and this time I paid even more attention as Haku dove for the blonde, and Sasuke shot another burst of fire. This time he had to swerve even more- but when Naruto crashed to the ground once again, and Haku returned to being mere reflections in the ice… there was an unmistakable burn mark on the rogue's pants. Sasuke had actually grazed him. Stunned, I turned to look at Sasuke, who had his old confident smirk back on his face.

If Sasuke could hit Haku dead on while he was busy after Naruto's clones…we might still have a chance to live. The thought cheered me up considerably.

The Uchiha turned to his brightly colored teammate, who was lamenting about how he had been 'so close'. "Naruto. Can you still move?"

The mere thought that he could be so weak seemed to almost insult Naruto. "Of course! I'm still okay!" he insisted, though looking visibly drained.

Haku's mirrors began to glow white again, and Sasuke began whipping through handsigns for his Big Bad Wolf no Jutsu- er, that is, his fire style. "Naruto, run!" he demanded. "Get out of here and attack from the outside!"

It seemed to click in Naruto's little brain that Sasuke actually had a plan, and he immediately headed for the nearest gap between the mirrors. When had the world outside this prison turned to mist? The mirrors flashed, and he was thrown back- but undeterred, he got back up and kept going. "I'm not going to lose!"

Haku burst out of an ice mirror to deal with the orange genin before he got too far, and Sasuke saw his chance. 'Katon: Gokyakku no Jutsu!'

The resulting ball of fire surged forth to combat Haku, and I held my breath, waiting for it to hit- but Haku made an about face to avoid it. Not only that, but he shot a senbon needle into Sasuke's shoulder to prevent any further attempts. I swore under my breath as Naruto came crashing back to us. Was the rogue just too fast?

I winced at the shick sound as Sasuke pulled the senbon out of his arm. "That was good," he murmured, not sounding discouraged at all. In fact, he only looked more determined now. "Let's try it again."

Naruto went running, and Sasuke headed off in another direction, apparently hoping that one of them would make it outside. But this time Haku didn't intend to let Sasuke get any closer to catching him. "I won't let it happen the way you expect," he said firmly, coming partway out of the mirror. "First, I will stop you!"

A senbon needle caught Sasuke in the calf, arresting his movement. Before he could even move to pull it out, more needles sank into the rest of his limbs, probably in pressure points so he would have difficulty moving. Naruto stopped running upon hearing Sasuke's screams, but that only allowed Haku to land a line of senbon in his jumpsuited back. This was not good; this was not good at all. I moved to push myself to my feet, hoping to remove the needles so the two could continue with their plan- but Haku shot my thighs and arm as well. At least he had the dignity not to touch my bad shoulder- probably because he didn't need to incapacitate me there, but still. I tried to make my way to Sasuke- but froze upon hearing an unusually high, girlish scream.

Sakura? What was going on out there?

Naruto twitched on the ground, trying to force his body up. "Sa…kura…chan," he whimpered, struggling to respond to her damsel in distress call. it was like watching a half-dead puppy try to save its master from drowning: adorable and depressing.

"What now?" I whispered, without knowing who I was talking to. "Do we just..?"

"Hehehe…"

When I looked again, Naruto had somehow managed to drag himself up on shaky arms and legs. "I'll do something about this…" He was getting to his feet. I looked to see if the senbon had disappeared somehow, but they were still stuck in his back. How was he moving?

Bright blue ribbons of what I now knew as chakra spiraled around the genin of seemingly endless stamina. He tore for a gap between the mirrors without warning. Haku appeared in the mirrors to stop him, but Naruto backflipped- and backflipping was my thing- and started heading for another exit, Haku trailing close behind.

"Naruto! Behind you!"

Maybe it would have been better if Sasuke hadn't given that warning. The second Naruto turned to face the oncoming threat, he was greeted with a volley of senbon needles to the chest: needles that, if they had managed to pierce his heart or lungs, could easily have proven fatal.

"It's impossible to get out of here," Haku informed us as Naruto crashed to the ground. "I can assure you of that."

Both Sasuke and I ignored him, making our way towards the injured blonde, some(me) slower than others(Sasuke). "Can you stand, Naruto?" our current leader asked, kneeling beside the boy as he spoke. Naruto groaned in response. "Don't waste your chakra like that anymore," Sasuke cautioned, as I arrived and began picking carefully at the more dangerous senbon on his chest. "That's what he wants us to do."

Naruto lifted his head wearily. "I…know," he forced out, and collapsed. Although he'd basically undone what little I'd achieved, at least the motion hadn't killed him. And what was more, it didn't look as if he was going to be making any miraculous recoveries. I held up the one senbon I'd managed to get out with a frown.

Sasuke got back to his feet, and I couldn't help watching to see what he would possibly do now. His inexhaustible resource was exhausted, and I, the other skill and intelligence, was down one arm, among other things. It was basically just him now.

Haku sensed the aura of 'all hope is lost' and decided to make his move. "I will put an end to this now." He appeared the mirror in front of us- just that mirror, he didn't even need to attack from all directions.

"Takashi." Sasuke's hand was in front of my face suddenly, and I stared at it uncomprehendingly. What, did he want to hold my hand again as we died?

Suddenly I wanted to facepalm. No. He wanted the senbon. Geez, what was I, Sakura? A little disgusted with myself, I placed it in his hand just as Haku launched the first wave of needles.

What followed was- not that I was fangirling over him or anything, but- one of the coolest things I had ever seen Uchiha Sasuke do. As the needle rain came for him, he began fighting them all off, armed with his wits and that single senbon needle. Startled, Haku stopped the attack, and Sasuke dropped to one knee, showing just how taxing the feat had been for him. "Get up!" he snapped at Naruto, all sympathy apparently gone out the window. "Usuratonkachi!"

Naruto twitched, then forced himself to sit up. "I know…stop being so annoying…" At any other time I would have snickered at how Sasuke he sounded at that moment. But considering we were fighting to stay alive right that second, I didn't think it was appropriate.

I picked up my own senbon as the reflections of the rogue nin appeared in the rest of the mirrors, forcing myself to stand. Haku was getting frustrated. I probably wouldn't be able to do this as well as Sasuke, especially with my shoulder complaining at every move I made, but heck if I wasn't going to try.

"You're insane," Sasuke warned, realizing what I planned to do. "Just get behind me or something. Your shoulder…"

"What, this little thing?" I raised the senbon, gritting my teeth. "And no way am I hiding behind you, Uchiha."

The storm of senbon came down, preventing us from talking any further, and we both dove into action, dodging and weaving through what we could and fighting off the rest. It was kind of irritating, because I felt like I was getting nowhere fast, and Sasuke was keeping me from getting myself killed. And, of course, keeping the still shaky Naruto from being impaled. At one point he even had to elbow the blonde out of the way to keep him from meeting a grisly end with a row of senbon needles.

Haku stopped momentarily to study us again, and I gritted my teeth, keeping an eye on him. It looked as if I hadn't dodged all the needles. There were a couple of new ones sticking out of me now. At this rate we would all resemble human porcupines. Or acupuncture patients.

Without warning the rogue nin flickered out of sight- not to another mirror, but gone completely. "Where did he go?" Sasuke demanded to no one, reminding me of that fateful day with the bell test as he looked around frantically. I found myself sinking to my knees as he continued to yell. "Naruto, you better not pass out! I can't cover for you much longer!"

"I don't need your help," Naruto insisted weakly…and then he proceeded to pass out.

"Looks like that boy can't move any longer."

The voice came from above, and I looked up with Sasuke to see Haku on the topmost mirror. "And that girl has reached her limit, as well," he noted, then chuckled a little. As if others' weakness was funny- maybe he was a sadist, after all.

Irritated, Sasuke threw the senbon at him, but Haku disappeared from that mirror as well. "Wonderful," he continued, as Sasuke began trying to figure out where he was now. "You move very brilliantly." What was he talking about now?

"Heads up," I alerted upon spotting the elusive nin in another mirror, and Sasuke moved just in time to avoid a row of needles.

"You move a lot," Haku commented, before appearing in the mirror directly in front of Sasuke. "But I will stop you with the next shot." He began to flicker in and out of the different mirrors as he spoke. "Movement, reflexes, and situation analyzation ability. All that should be worn out!"

The concentrated look appeared on Sasuke's face again. Without warning he picked Naruto up and grabbed me by the fabric of my vest, pulling me roughly away. My shoulder throbbed at the sudden movement, but that didn't matter anymore when I saw the cluster of senbon where we had just been standing. How the heck had he known those were coming? He couldn't have seen where Haku was, could he? I turned to ask him those questions and more, but the moment I looked up at him, my questions died in my throat.

Instead of the coal black his eyes usually were, the iris was crimson red. There was only one comma shaped mark instead of three, and it was in both eyes, but there was no mistaking it.

Sasuke…had Sharingan?

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><p><strong>Ahh, Part 2 of 3 is done! And OMG, Sasuke got his Sharingan, yay! It's like a baby getting his first tooth! Or a bird coming out of its egg! Or...any other analogy you guys can think of, because I don't know.<strong>

**Yeah, I need to go to sleep. But I do need ideas for things to put in here, soooo-**

**-Anything you want to see from Suten? Family history, childhood...**

**-How do we get Sasuke and Suten to get on the path to romance? I'm sorry, that was bold- but still!**

**-Anything else you wanna see!**

**I want to hear it from you! Questions! Comments! Concerns! Please review!**


	15. Chapter 15

**I'm a little annoyed again at myself- this isn't the final chapter of this fight either. Sorry, guys, I tried. I decided it's either post this and add a fourth part, or keep you guys waiting longer because I'm too stubborn to go back on a self-imposed rule. But no running around the town on my hands for me...**

**Well, Part Three of the Zabuza and Haku vs Team 7 showdown! Suten suffers from what I might consider depression and not one, but two people(le gasp) die in this chapter! And get this: there's more to come! And I know most of you know this story and what's going to happen already- I'm hamming it up for any who don't, because I was reading Death Note fanfiction before I even started watching it. And wondering why there was a guy with a single letter for a name... Little did I know...**

**Speaking of Death Note fanfiction, you should check out(and I usually don't advertise other people's work) Satchelle's fic Forever the Faithful Fan! It's a really well written and entertaining piece about a Canadian- not American- girl who gets sucked into Death Note! And by the way, it's LxOC, and I'm assuming you people like CanonXOC pairings or else you shouldn't be reading this! Hehe...**

**Advertising over! I own Suten and that is about it...unless I'm forgetting something. Nah, I'm not.**

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><p>I wasn't sure I could believe it. Sasuke, with Sharingan? He had said something about it being an Uchiha clan trait, but… I didn't think he'd actually get it. Well, of course he'd get it- but right this second, when we were about to die? Or were those the conditions you'd get it under? I wasn't an Uchiha, after all, so I wouldn't know much about their eyes. And considering I could count on one hand- maybe even one finger- the people there were to ask…<p>

Even still, what I was seeing wasn't as important. Considering the high stakes, I should be more focused on what Sasuke could see, and how we could utilize that sight to live through this battle. There was still a chance we could all walk out of here. Then I looked over at Naruto, who was still motionless and stuck with needles. It wasn't looking good for him at the moment- despite his usual boundless energy, I could tell his limit had finally been breached. I found myself leaving Sasuke's side- smart, I know, moving away from my one source of protection- and nearly dragging myself over to check that the blonde was still alive. Maybe I was hoping he would have another miraculous recovery. Haku wasn't attacking right now, seemingly pondering what to do about Sasuke's new trick: if he could just hold off a few more minutes until Naruto could muster some strength up…

Just as I placed two fingers to the orange one's neck to check he still had a pulse, I heard a strange whooshing noise coming from somewhere in front of me. Confused and concerned, I looked up- and paled instantly.

Haku was coming straight at me. Not just me, but Naruto, too. I with my normal eyes could only see the dark blur that announced his presence, but I could see where he was headed all too clearly. In an act of self-preservation that I would kick myself for later, I pushed myself away from Naruto and whipped my good arm up in front of my face, squeezing my eyes shut. Deep down I knew I should have protected my fallen comrade like a good ninja- those who abandon friends are worse than scum, Kakashi warned- but I was selfish and afraid to die. At least I would never see my sensei's disappointed face, when he learned how I had left Naruto in a worthless attempt to save my own hide. I waited for the deserved pain of sharp needles embedding into my flesh.

Nothing happened. I kept my guard up, thinking that Haku was waiting for the right moment to attack. But when I checked out of curiosity, I found Haku lying on the ground near Sasuke's feet. Somehow he had gotten in front of us.

"Really…You're a burden…all the time…And you're an annoyance…"

I realized Sasuke was talking partly to Naruto, and out of the corner of my eye I saw the bright orange ninja sitting up. There, see? A few more minutes, and we can finally win… My gaze drew back to Sasuke, and almost immediately my eyes widened. Even Naruto's cries of joy petered out as he saw what I saw.

Glistening senbon needles stuck out of Sasuke as if he were some sort of demented human pincushion. I didn't have to be a medic nin to know several stuck into his back in places that probably housed vital organs. And if that was what he looked like from the back…

Sasuke turned his head to look at us, blood dribbling from the corner of his mouth. "Look at yourself," he breathed. "Usuratonkachi."

Stunned beyond belief, Naruto got to his feet. "Why?" he demanded, a desperate note in his voice. "You protected me…"

"Who knows…" he replied ambiguously, before doubling over to cough up blood. "I…hated you. Both of…you."

I squeezed my eyes shut, gripping a fistful of my dark hair and trying to block out the horrible sight. This was all a dream… it had to be. Any second I would wake up to the sight of busy construction and Sasuke scoffing at me for falling asleep on the job… which would lead to a petty argument as we ignored Sakura yelling at me not to bother her 'Sasuke-kun'…

"Why?" I heard Naruto screaming near me. "Why? Why did you protect me..? I…I didn't ask you to!"

And then we would start to fight, throwing punches and kicks and calling each other names, like idiot, prick, annoying, conceited…And then Kakashi would pull us apart and say…

"Who knows…my body moved on its own…baka…"

I heard a crash, and my eyes flew open without permission. Sasuke had collapsed, right in front of me, Naruto just barely catching him. Onyx eyes drifted to land on my face. "Tch…What…are you crying for me…Takashi?"

Crying? I felt the cool wetness of a tear slide down my cheek, but didn't bother to wipe it away. "You're one to talk," I replied, unable to put the old bitterness in my voice as I noticed the moisture on his own face. "You're crying, too…jerk…"

"Hn…Well, cut it out…so annoying…" His gaze drifted towards the sky, as he spoke seemingly to himself. "That man…I didn't want to die until I killed my brother…" The Uchiha turned toward the blond still holding him, attempting to lift a hand towards Naruto's face. "You…don't die…"

I waited to hear more words from Sasuke- perhaps a plan of attack or another insult for me- but he had gone silent. It was then I noticed that the hand that had been reaching out to Naruto, had dropped without any further notice.

My constant enemy…the one person I had really hated…was gone. And for a reason I wasn't sure of, that didn't make me happy. In fact, it had the exact opposite effect as I watched Naruto cradle Sasuke(what was left of Sasuke) in his arms. Just when I'd started getting to know him…just when I'd started to…

"You don't own me…" My voice was unusually shaky, and I felt more tears sliding down my cheeks. "I'll do what I want...you don't tell me what to do…I bet I'm crying just to spite you…so there…" Telling me to stop crying...Who did he think he was..?

"Is this the first time you've seen a friend die?" Haku, killer of Sasuke, questioned in his usual calm voice. "That is the path of a ninja." Maybe I would call him 'it' after all. To be so unmoved after committing murder…

"Shut up," Naruto growled, and numbly I watched him lay Sasuke(what was left of Sasuke) on the cold ground. "I… hated you, too," he informed the motionless figure simply, his voice choked. Steam began to rise up around him. "You…will pay," Naruto promised Haku, and suddenly he erupted in a typhoon of flaming red chakra. I could feel the hatred and malevolence thick in the chakra around him.

"I'LL KILL YOU!"

Naruto's eyes now burned a glowing red, his canines sharpened to deadly points, the once innocent whisker shaped marks on his cheeks now thick and rough looking. I forced myself to get up and move back, staring wide eyed. Was this Naruto? What was going on?

The chakra formed into the shape of an evil looking fox above Naruto's head. The senbon I had worried so much about all popped out of his body, his cuts closing up as his nails grew as sharp as his teeth. Now would have been an opportune time to leave, if I had been thinking clearly…but my terrified wonder at Naruto's transformation was the strongest thought I had right now. Everything beyond that was numbness.

The crimson chakra cleared from view, but Naruto was still chock full of it as he charged, snarling, at Haku. I was the slightest bit relieved to see him charging- at least it was still Naruto we were dealing with. But that relief died as he deflected a brace of senbon- by screaming chakra. Haku retaliated by trying his-its old trick: appearing in all the mirrors and launching senbon from every direction. It didn't faze Naruto even when the senbon stuck into his flesh. He just roared, expelling all the senbon from his body in one swift flex, then charged and smashed- yes, smashed- one of the mirrors into silvery shards. Haku leaped out of a shard with senbon aimed for Naruto's back, but the feral blonde twisted midair to avoid it and allowed the rogue nin to crash into the ground.

Haku seemed to know where its safety lay, and turned to dive into another mirror- but Naruto's clawed hand locked around his wrist and arrested his flight. Wind and chakra burst forth again, cracking the mirrors nearby as the enraged boy drew back a chakra enveloped fist. I expected the fake hunter nin to break free somehow, but with such a tight hold on its hand there was nothing it could do.

The fist smashed into its face and sent it flying through an upper mirror into the mist. I heard it crash into the ground several yards away, rolling even farther before finally lying still. I looked around as the cracks in the mirrors began to spread, their surfaces glowing white before they all finally shattered into pieces. My body moved without thinking as the shards of ice fell, and I found myself crouched protectively over Sasuke(what was left of Sasuke), fragments of frozen water landing hard on my back and clattering off. I winced as one hit my still dully throbbing shoulder. "Why am I protecting you?" I asked the still form below me, knowing he couldn't answer. "It's not like you'll get hurt if I don't…I should have saved myself like I did with Naruto…" Takashi Suten: selfish when she shouldn't be, selfless when it's not necessary. Wonderful.

Naruto charged off to deal with Haku, and I moved off Sasuke(what was left of Sasuke) to stare up at what I could see of the pale blue sky. A niggling voice told me that now I had some time to myself, I should deal with my arm. 'Is it broken or just dislocated?', I wondered, sucking in a breath and probing at my shoulder. I expected the flash of throbbing pain that came from the action, but I could also feel the bone joint just out of my arm socket. Dislocated. I could handle that, but I wasn't looking forward to it, even though I had done this before on the off times I'd managed to almost fall out of my trees. I stepped on my hand, bringing myself up to one knee and preparing myself mentally.

"You're the guy from before…" Naruto's voice floated out of the mist as I steadied my nerves. A small part of me wondered how it had taken him so long to realize. Another part realized the frightening chakra had disappeared.

"Why did you stop?" Haku's voice came not long after. "I killed an important friend of yours, but you can't kill me?"

'On three,' I thought grudgingly, gritting my teeth. 'One…two…two and a half…two and three quarters….two and four fifths- oh, for crying out loud…'

A punch and a swear from Naruto.

'Three!' I pushed up off the ground as hard as I could, while keeping my hand trapped, crying out in pain as I felt my shoulder pop back into place. It hurt- hurt almost as much as dislocating it in the first place- but now the job was done, the pain quickly receded to a dull ache. I was useful again.

"Where did that energy of yours go? You can't defeat me like that. He wasn't an important person to you?"

But suddenly I didn't want to be useful. I sank back down beside Sasuke(what was left of Sasuke), staring at him. What was the point of excelling and improving, if I didn't have a worthy opponent to strive against? What was the point of proving I could fight, if I had no one good enough to prove it to? At this rate, my sarcasm and wit would fade for lack of someone to test it against.

"There are those who have the wrong idea. They fail to defeat an enemy that needs to be defeated, showing them mercy instead, and decide not to take their life. If you ask me, doing something like that is not showing mercy."

Where were Kakashi and Sakura? Were they and Tazuna dead, too? Was Zabuza waiting somewhere in the mist to kill me next? And then he and Haku would leave Naruto behind to tell our tale…or maybe they would kill him just to be fair. The Country of Wave would be forever under the dictatorship of Gato…all because we were incompetent and way in over our heads from the beginning.

"Do you know the pain of living without a dream? Knowing you're not needed by anyone?"

"What are you trying to say?"

"Zabuza-san does not need a weak ninja. You stole my reason to exist."

"Why..? Why do you fight for that guy? He gets money from bad guys and does evil things! Is that no-brow the only important person you have?"

Even if this hadn't been such a somber moment, I couldn't imagine myself snickering at the nickname anymore. Now I just wanted Naruto to shut up and stop being so brash. I couldn't believe I found myself sympathizing with Inari, but there you go. I stared at the senbon needles still embedded in Sasuke's body. Someone else could get those out. I didn't see any point.

Maybe…Maybe Haku had stolen my drive, just like Naruto had stolen its reason to exist.

"I had people that were important to me a long time ago. My parents. I was born in a small village in Mizu no Kuni, where the snow piled up deep. All we did was farm, and my family was poor, but my father and mother were happy with it. I was happy. They were really kind parents."

Parents…huh.

"But when I first took notice of my surroundings, something happened."

"Something?" Naruto's voice was less harsh now, more curious. "What happened?'

A long silence. "…this blood."

"Blood? So…so what happened?"

"My father killed my mother, and tried to kill me. Mizu no Kuni has experienced many wars, and those who possess Kekkei Genkai were hated. It is passed down from parent to child, or grandparent to grandchild. It's a special ability or jutsu that runs in the family. Because of the special abilities they possessed…the families were used in many disputes, and the country itself feared them to be the harbingers of disaster and wars. After the wars, those families hid their abilities and lived on. Because only death awaited them if their secret was revealed."

I realized there were two pairs of eyes burning into my back, or more specifically into Sasuke's (what was left of Sasuke) face.

"That boy must have had a hard time. Those who possess a special ability are feared by everyone."

I could see why Haku would think so- the Sharingan was a force to be reckoned with, from what I had seen of Kakashi's use of it. But Sasuke had never had a hard time in his life…other than that one incident seven or eight years ago. Anything he'd had a hard time with, the arrogant prick had probably brought on himself.

"My mother possessed a Kekkei Genkai." Haku had returned to its life story. "She kept it a secret and married my father, and must have believed that an ordinary life would continue for a while…no, forever. But my father found out about our secret."

Oh. Well. That couldn't end well. I traced the symbol etched into Sasuke's (what was left of Sasuke) hitai-ate.

"When I came to, I realized that I had killed my own father. And at the time, I thought of myself as…no, I had to think of myself as being…"

A murderer? Come to think of it, why were we still listening to this murderer talk? Why hadn't we killed it? As soon as I thought the words, the corners of my mouth twitched in a humorless smile. No, we couldn't kill Haku. We were too weak to even survive. Sasuke had proved that.

Geez, I was depressing. Later I would kick myself for this, too.

"I realized that that was the most painful thing one could feel. The feeling that you are not needed by anyone in this world. You said to me 'I want to become the number one ninja in my village and have everyone recognize me'. When someone who accepts you from the bottom of their heart appears, that person should become the most important person to you. Zabuza-san knew that I was from a family with Kekkei Genkai and raised me. He wanted this ability that everyone hated."

What family was that?, I wondered absently. What was Haku's family name? We knew Zabuza's…why not Haku's?

Then I forced myself to get to my feet, holding out my kunai knife and straining to peer into the mist. Because I could still think about everything the rogue had shared, so I still had a working mind, and I had barely done anything this entire mission, so I still had a working body. And I would- I had to- keep fighting, even if I didn't really want to.

"I'm sorry, Zabuza-san," Haku murmured as I fixed my gaze on Naruto's orange back, preparing myself mentally to back him up if anything went wrong. "I couldn't be the tool that you wanted me to be." And suddenly I could see it, walking out of the mist towards Naruto, who instinctively took a step or two back. "Naruto-kun," it whispered, and I found myself wondering when Naruto had become –kun to it. "Please…kill me."

Faint snarls and barking sounded seemingly from far off in the distance- then again, I had no idea how far away anything was in this mist if I couldn't see it. Dogs? What would dogs be doing on this bridge? I squinted in the general direction of the noise, where I could see two gradually appearing shadows. Wait…was the mist finally clearing?

A bright, crackling chakra appeared near one of the solidifying shadows, illuminating the person so that I could see clearer. Kakashi? There was no mistaking the lopsided silver hair- that was our sensei, all right. So the other person was…it was hard to see, but Zabuza stood rooted to the spot a few feet away from Kakashi. Covered in… dogs of multiple sizes. Again, where had the dogs come from? I doubted Zabuza had been carrying meat all this time.

No, more importantly- if Kakashi was clearly about to finish Zabuza and Haku had lost its will to live…had we actually, finally won?

"Why are you hesitating?" Haku was speaking again, and reluctantly I pulled my attention away from Kakashi and Zabuza to refocus on it.

Naruto stared at it, then clenched his fists, moving back even further. "I can't believe that stupid story!" he declared furiously. "Weapon? Tool? You call someone like that an important person? You're okay with that?"

"…is it wrong?"

"W-what?"

"What's wrong with that?"

"But…that's…"

"Zabuza-san had hopes for me," Haku elaborated in the same empty tone. "He needed me. But I have lost the purpose that made me, me. Zabuza-san will no longer need me. That's why I am asking you…Now, hurry."

But the blonde continued to hesitate. "I don't understand! Is remaining strong the only reason you have for being in this world? You could have made people recognize you through something other than fighting."

"The day I met you in the forest, I could tell you were like me. You should understand," it pressed. "I'm sorry that I have to soil your hands."

"Is that…is that the only way?"

"Yes."

Naruto stared at the rogue nin. "If I met you somewhere else," he noted almost wistfully, "we might have been friends." Then he took out a kunai knife and charged.

I watched Naruto, unbelieving that he would actually be able to kill Haku head on, just like that. Haku certainly didn't seem ready to stop him, closing his eyes with a peaceful smile as his death came closer and closer. After all this…he would just give up?

Without warning the rogue's eyes flashed open, and he grabbed Naruto's wrist, arresting his movement just as the blonde was about to strike. "I'm sorry, Naruto-kun," it said softly, before making several one-handed handsigns. "I can't die yet." My eyes widened. Had this all been a trick to get Naruto to let his guard down?

I flung my kunai knife at it, hoping to slow it down so Naruto could finish the job. I did manage to deliver a fairly deep cut to the shoulder, dark blood spreading across the fabric almost instantly as Haku winced. But instead of attacking Naruto somehow, the rogue launched upwards into the sky in a blast of cold air. I looked around for a hint as to what it was planning. The ice needles? Some other attack? Where was it going?

A shockwave of chakra hit just then, ricocheting out from the general direction I'd seen Kakashi. The mist finally blew away, and now I could see what was happening clearly. I could even see Sakura and Tazuna farther away.

From his posture, Kakashi seemed to have been intending to ram the handful of bright crackling chakra straight into Zabuza's chest. Unfortunately, something seemed to have gotten in the way before his hand could reach his destination.

That something was Haku.

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><p><strong>Oh my gosh! Haku just got Chidori'ed! Wait, Kakashi calls it Lightning Blade...but I'm too lazy to look up the Japanese romaji(Raiton something?) so it's Chidori'ed!<strong>

**Speaking of Japanese- I'm trying to learn it through Rosetta Stone, but the only useful thing I've learned are colors(which I knew), numbers(which I knew), hello and goodbye(which I knew), a few family names(most of which I knew) and now 'the boy/girl/some other noun thing is eating/running/some other verb thing.' Otokonoko wa tabete imasu. :P**

**I don't suppose any of you know a better way? A preferably free, but more productive way?**

**Until next time!**

**Questions? Comments? Concerns? Please review!**


	16. Chapter 16

Takashi Suten walked into her creator's bedroom, yawning and stretching her arms. "Oi, Author-sama, I'm here," she called. "And Uchiha's still dead so I guess he's not coming- huh?"

SasuTenLuvr lay completely still on her bed, Monster earbuds wedged firmly into her ears and a limp arm flung across her face. Her original character walked over, tripping a little on the schoolbag tossed right in front of the bed, and checked the song on the girl's iPhone. Paper Plane by the Kagamines- she was drowning herself in sad Vocaloid music again. Not a good sign.

Leaning in and gingerly plucking a bud out of an ear, Suten spoke loudly enough that SasuTenLuvr could hear her despite Rin's anguished wails. "Ano, Author-sama? I thought you were gonna update today, since you got back from that AWA thing and all."

The junior didn't respond, making Suten wonder if the girl had somehow fallen asleep- or more appropriately, died. Then her lips moved. "I can't do it."

"E-eh?!" The genin picked up SasuTenLuvr's arm and flung it to the side, revealing a pair of listless brown eyes. "Why can't you?"

"Because as far as I can tell, most of my readers have given up on this fic," she responded miserably. "Almost no one reads, almost no one reviews…It's gotten so bad that the reviews I get in two days are all I can expect for until I post the next chapter. Whenever I post the next chapter. Maybe that's why I'm losing so many readers…"

"But there are still people giving input, right?" Suten didn't want to become like her creator's other OCs, confined to the stuffy Documents folder and iCloud and spare notebooks, and never getting to be shown off to the world. "Who cares if a couple of lazy people-"

"It's not just that!" SasuTenLuvr finally sat up, running a hand through her dark hair. The other earbud popped out of her ear and thudded silently to the sheets, spilling faint angst and sorrow into the air. "I'm starting to have doubts now. I don't know how to get from here to Shippuden, where you and Sasuke can finally get some action in-"

"H-Hey!"

"And I'm even thinking about changing your name, because it's derived from my penname and I don't want to make you a Mary Sue! What does Suten even mean, anyway? Nothing, I tell you! Nothing! I checked!"

For the first time Suten realized she had no idea what her name meant. "Kaito said it in Cendrillon," she offered lamely. "In the bridge-kinda thing…Uchiha," she acknowledged absently upon noticing a familiar prescence in the doorway.

Sasuke nodded, leaning against the doorway. "Takashi."

"And Takashi is a letter away from Kakashi! You're completely unoriginal! Not to mention your outfit sucks!"

Suten glanced down at her ninja outfit with disdain. "Okay, I'll give you the outfit one…but you make it better in Shippuden, don't you? I've seen pictures on your laptop."

The authoress huffed. "Do you know how many episodes it is to Shippuden?"

"About a hundred?" Sasuke ventured when Suten didn't answer.

"Try two hundred."

The Uchiha chose wisely not to respond to that daunting piece of information, instead exhaling in irritation. "Just stop over reacting and write something already. You care way too much about what other people think. If you really wanted, you could start the Shippuden storyline in another fic right now."

"Yeah, why don't you just do that?" the not-quite-original genin agreed. "I know you thought it'd be easier if you had the original storyline to piggyback off, but I honestly think you work better when you get to make up the storyline, and add in bits of canon for authenticity."

"But that would confuse the readers," SasuTenLuvr insisted, who didn't like unhappy readers. "I have to build a relationship between the two of you first, and then do the thing, and then the other thing…" She paused, then added, "And plus, you really don't want to go through puberty that fast."

Sasuke and Suten glanced at each other with looks of thoughtful interest.

"No, you don't. I mean it. No matter how hot you two turn out. And Sasuke, stop thinking those thoughts before I send you back to Kishimoto-sama in disgrace."

The emotionally-awkward Uchiha turned a nice shade of pink and looked away. "Tch. Stop reading my thoughts."

"I don't read thoughts," the older girl reminded. "I read patterns and body language."

"Plus you kind of just admitted to thinking those kinds of thoughts," the younger girl pointed out, not completely okay with being thought of like that.

"Hn."

"Hn!"

"Hn."

"Hn!"

The author watched the two go back and forth, a concentrated look of thoughtfulness on her features. The lazy gears in her professional writer's brain were slowly winding back into motion. Suddenly she whirled around to her still open laptop and began typing furiously, stricken with inspiration even though the current scenario really had nothing to do with her fic.

"Hn!"

"Hn!"

"Hn!"

"Hn!"

Then she got up, marched Sasuke and Suten to separate corners so they would stop grunting at each other like wild boars, and went back to typing furiously, putting on her Naruto soundtracks to get her further in the mood and singing along under her breath.

"_Cultivate your hunger before you idealize,_

"_Motivate your anger to make them all realize,_

"_Climbing the mountain, never coming down,_

"_Break into the contents, never falling down…"_

Maybe she would move on to Shippuden, she mused, have her current fic as a sort of flashback support type-thing. She already had plenty of ideas, after all, and considering so little was known about what Sasuke did with his time, she shouldn't have any problem adding in her own pizzaz. 'Let's see what my dear readers think,' she thought with a grin as she typed a quick message and then, crossing her fingers and taking a deep breath, hit Post New Chapter.

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><p><strong>I technically don't see this as an Author's Note- more of a behind the scenes look. So, if you've read this, you know what to do. <strong>

**Review! Review review review, and I'm sorry for updating so slowly! I think that's why I'm losing most of you... Big thanks to those of you who've stayed. Don't worry, I will be posting the actual next chapter later today. But I want your opinions!**

**Should I move on to Shippuden, continuing to update this as a sort of backstory? I'll try to explain as well as I can so you know what happened and aren't waiting for the corresponding chapter to come out.**

**Also, what are your opinions on Suten herself? Is her name too unoriginal? Does her outfit suck?**

**Tell me something? Please? I'm being pathetic and begging, come on!**

**Questions? Comments? Concerns? REVIEW!**


	17. Chapter 17

**Finally, the end of the Land of Waves battle! And it only took...way too many chapters! I really should be in bed sleeping, so if my school performance suffers because of this, I BLAME YOU PEOPLE.**

**Thanks for all of your suggestions and support! They really do make a difference! I'd especially like to thank SeaDevil, Blackenflames, and readitandmeep for sticking with me from the beginning- among many, many others! And I feel kind of bad for listing them because you'll feel left out- but oh well! **

***big heavy sigh*- and of course, I must not forget my darling imouto who is now stalking- er, following me on Fanfiction. Who I will always call Suha no matter what she says.**

**Enjoy! I don't own Naruto or Sakura or all the depression in this chapter! But I do own my dashing good looks, a picture of Vic Mignogna, and Suten!**

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><p>The chakra died away as Kakashi stared in shock, and Haku just managed to grab Kakashi's wrist, blood spreading outward from my sensei's hand. "Zabuza…san…" Thick droplets of blood splattered to the ground.<p>

"My future is death?" The outcome of events didn't seem to bother Zabuza in the slightest. He even chuckled, as if this had all gone according to some kind of plan. "You're wrong again, Kakashi."

Naruto, who had been looking around stupidly for Haku, finally noticed what was going on and ran towards the scene. But upon noticing the second death by self-sacrifice of the day, he stopped dead. "What's the meaning…of this?"

It was the same…it was just like Sasuke all over again…

Zabuza chuckled again. "Splendid, Haku." The dogs seemed to have disappeared from around him, and he lunged for his sword, preparing to swing down at Kakashi and Haku(what was left of Haku). "How nice! He gave me this great opportunity right at the very end!" Kakashi tried to pull away, but even in death, Haku's(what was left of Haku) grip was firm. That and Kakashi's hand was still stuck in the boy's chest.

With no other option, the jonin grabbed the rogue nin(what was left of the rogue nin) and jumped, Zabuza missing him by inches. He landed on the other side of the bridge- which I could see because the mist had finally cleared. Zabuza chuckled yet again. "So you were able to dodge that because Haku's dead." I had yet to understand how he could be so heartlessly glad about this.

This didn't seem to sit well with Naruto, either. "That bastard…"

"Naruto!" Kakashi called warningly. "You stay there and watch!" I watched as he solemnly lay Haku(what was left of Haku) on the ground, closing the sightless eyes. Why was it that Kakashi had the decency to show respect in the presence of a dead enemy, while Zabuza just laughed at how convenient a comrade's death had been? Could he really be that cruel?

"Naruto!"

I winced at Sakura's excited call, and winced again when I remembered who was behind me. This was not going to be pretty.

"You're okay!" she called happily, waving obliviously. "Where's Sasuke-kun?"

Naruto looked away guiltily, and I couldn't blame him. From his perspective, if he had been stronger... Wait, what was I saying? I was supposed to be the more capable one- if I had been stronger and not just stood around…even if my shoulder had been…

"Naruto, where's Sasuke-kun?" Sakura repeated, finally sensing the somber mood. Naruto's fists clenched, but he still didn't answer her. Zabuza took this time to launch another attack, but Kakashi had no trouble kicking him away.

"I'll go, too," Tazuna offered, somehow understanding what had happened. "That way, you won't be disobeying your sensei's orders."

Wordlessly Sakura reached out and slipped her hand into Tazuna's bigger one. The two of them ran past Naruto and towards me, and as they got close enough I forced myself to step aside so they could see, allowing my bangs to cover my eyes. Best to get the initial shock over with now…

I heard her gasp as she stopped beside Sasuke(what was left of Sasuke) and I made myself turn and watch her as she sank to her knees, stretching a trembling hand out to cup his face. "He's cold," she said softly. "This isn't an illusion, huh?"

I had never liked Sakura- still didn't like her- but even she didn't deserve to go through something like this. Knowing her, it was probably the first real pain she'd ever been through in her life… and by being dead weight, I'd made her go through it. I dropped to my knees beside her silently.

"I…always got perfect scores on tests at the Academy," she whispered. "I memorized over a hundred clauses of ninja know-how, and I always wrote down answers proudly. One day, this problem showed up on a test: write the 25th clause of ninja know-how. And I wrote down that answer as usual." She continued stroking his face, but tears were pouring down her cheeks. "A ninja must not show emotion in any situation. A ninja must put the mission first… and not have a heart that will allow him to cry…"

I clenched my fists as Sakura finally allowed herself to break down, bawling into his shirt. So that was what her point had been. From those standards, none of us had the right to call ourselves ninja. "I said I wasn't letting some… eyebrowless, cow-pattern wearing psycho kill you for me," I mumbled. "That doesn't mean…you can let some mask wearing, pretty boy psycho do it…"

"Shut up!"

Tears were still streaming from her eyes, but the pinkette was glaring at me with a sudden anger I hadn't expected. "This is all your fault!" she screamed at me. "Why didn't you save him? I bet you're glad he's dead, aren't you? You hated him! You made Sasuke-kun miserable!"

I didn't respond verbally to her accusations, staring silently at Sasuke's(what was left of Sasuke) face. I could feel my eyes growing hot again, but I tried to force my tears back. I'd showed him already, so I didn't need to cry anymore. Not in front of all these people. Not in front of Sakura.

"You got what you wanted, didn't you?" she continued. "You don't have to deal with him anymore. Go on, laugh! Be happy!"

"_It's probably not a good thing, you know…that we talk to each other so much."_

"_Hn. Yeah, probably. We might end up becoming friends or something."_

Seeing a single tear slip down my cheek seemed to enrage her further. "What are you crying about? You don't deserve to cry over him!"

"_I forgive you. Okay? But you're still a prick."_

"_And you're still annoying. So…that makes us even again."_

"Maybe I don't," I murmured finally, scrubbing the stupid wetness from my face as Sakura gave up trying to bully me and started crying again. "But if that's the case…"

"Oh, looks like you got beaten pretty badly." A new voice broke me out of my thoughts, and I looked up to see a little old man with dark round glasses, a black suit, and a shock of gray hair with a matching moustache that looked more like carp whiskers. In his hands he held a wooden cane, although one of those hands was heavily bandaged so that the fingers stuck out like little sausages.

Carp whiskers, sausages…What was with the weird analogies all of a sudden? I was supposed to be sarcasm-dead.

"I'm disappointed, Zabuza," said the little old man, and I wondered where he got off addressing Zabuza so informally. Clearly he wasn't a ninja.

Then I got a good look at the men behind him. They may not have been ninja, either, but they certainly looked more threatening. Some of them were carrying various sharp weapons. Some of them looked bulky enough to be melee fighters. A few of them were shirtless. But all of them looked dangerous. This was, simply put, a group of thugs.

Zabuza didn't seem to care about the thugs. "Why are you here, Gato? And what's with those subordinates?"

Gato? This was Gato? Frowning, I looked him over. When I had imagined a powerful businessman with dealings in the underworld, I had expected someone…taller. Maybe even younger. Possibly catlike. I'd have to ask Sasuke what he had expected at a better time- oh, wait. There would never be a better time for Sasuke. Sasuke would never even see this guy.

"We had a little change in plans," Gato informed, sounding a little too pleased with himself. He thumped his cane on the ground, a wicked smile spreading across his lips. "I'm sorry, Zabuza," he said, not sounding sorry at all. "You're going to die here."

"What?" Zabuza didn't seem to have anticipated being turned on by his employer. I hadn't even remembered that to him and Haku, assassinating Tazuna was just a way to pay the bills. If they paid bills.

"If I hired an official ninja, it would cost too much money. So I hired a rogue nin, like you. If you ninja had just killed each other, it would have saved me both time and money. And you call yourself the Demon of Kirigakure? You're just a baby demon if you ask me." The ragtag army behind him laughed.

Ouch. This guy was not only incredibly cheap(which made no sense considering he was such a big-shot businessman), he also had no respect for those stronger than him. At least, when he didn't think they were.

Zabuza was silent for a minute, thinking over the new change of events. Then he called over his shoulder, "I'm sorry, Kakashi, but the battle ends here. Since I don't have a reason to kill Tazuna, I don't have a reason to fight you."

"Yeah, you're right." Kakashi didn't look too surprised. It was almost as if he had expected this to happen, and had stopped seeing Zabuza as an enemy the second Gato made his appearance on the bridge. Right now he seemed to be more focused on Gato, who was making his way over to where the jonin had laid Haku(what was left of Haku) for the moment.

"Oh, yes," recalled the corrupt businessman, staring down at the motionless body. "I owe this guy a favor, for gripping my hand until it broke…" Without warning he kicked Haku sharply in the head, provoking an indignant cry from Naruto. "Oh," Gato noted, poking the cold cheek with his cane. "He's already dead."

What was with this guy? Not only did he have no respect for the strong, but apparently he had none for the dead, either.

"Bastard!" This treatment didn't seem to sit any better with the orange one, who charged forward to teach the man a 'lesson'. "What do you think you're doing?" He seemed to have decided he was very much on Haku's side now.

Kakashi grabbed him by the back of his jacket before he could do any harm. "Stop," he warned, but I knew he couldn't pretend the show of disrespect didn't offend him. "Don't move so carelessly."

But Naruto wasn't finished. This time he turned to Zabuza. "Why don't you say something, too? He was on your side, wasn't he?"

Needless to say, the ex-demon remained unmoved. "Shut up, kid," he growled. "Haku is already dead."

"You really don't feel anything about what he did?" the blonde insisted, unwilling to believe someone could be that heartless. "You were with him for a long time, right?" He would learn eventually.

"Like how Gato used me, I was only using Haku. I said this before. We ninja are only tools. I wanted his abilities and his Kekkei Genkai, not him. I have no regrets."

Naruto glared at him. "You…do you really mean that?"

Kakashi placed a hand on his shoulder, warning him to calm down again. "Stop it Naruto," he reminded. "We don't have to fight him anymore. Besides…"

The hotheaded genin wasn't calmed by Kakashi's words anymore. He roughly shoved the jonin's hand away. "Urusai! He's still my enemy!" he declared, jabbing a finger in Zabuza's direction. Zabuza who had yet to actually move and could be dead standing if not for the fact he had been talking all this time.

"He…he really liked you! He really, really liked you! And you really don't think anything of him? Do you really…really not think anything of him? When a person becomes as strong as you, do they start to think like that? He…he sacrificed his life for you! He couldn't see his own dream… Dying as a tool… is just… just… too painful…" Naruto didn't seem to be able to continue anymore due to the raw emotion choking his voice. I had to admit, the kid could speak. I already somewhat sympathized with Haku's plight, and the speech hadn't been meant for me, but even I had been moved a little. But the more important thing was… had Zabuza?

Zabuza was silent again, and for a minute I thought he actually was dead standing. "Kid," he began finally, but his voice seemed almost softer now. Was he…crying? "Don't say any more. Haku…not only did he hurt his heart to fight for me, but he hurt his heart for you guys. He felt pain and sorrow, and curse him, I feel them too… yet I feel content with it all the same. As if this is how it ends." It was hard to tell from so far back, but he worked something around with his teeth and spat out a big glob of bandage. Had he chewed through his mask? Gross…yet strangely awe-inspiring. "What, are you surprised? It's like you said: we ninja are human, too. They might not always be able to become a tool without emotions. I lose." He paused again, then added, all business now, "Kid, give me your kunai."

Naruto, still with tears of raw, manly emotion streaming down his cheeks, pulled out his last kunai knife and tossed it. I was about to yell at him to be more careful- because from the looks of it Zabuza couldn't use his arms, and if the kunai fell short the guy was kind of screwed- but Zabuza managed to leap and catch it between his teeth.

I decided right then and there that I was going to have to learn how to do that. It would probably be a very long, bloody, and painful training(especially if the kunai somehow went down my throat), but I was going to learn how to do that.

The reformed rogue charged for the businessman, who like any coward with bark worse than his bite, ran for the safety of his mobsters. "Hey! Kill those guys!"

The bloodthirsty thugs cheered as Zabuza got closer, some taunting him as they readied their weapons. Unfortunately, before they could quite finish he was on them, tearing through the crowd with that single kunai in the most incredible man versus army showdown I had seen in my twelve years of life. But the rogue nin could care less about the army, even when their spears and sharp weapons found purchase in his back. No, the only target he could see was the little old man running to escape into one of the boats below. He caught Gato and held the kunai to his throat, pressing it enough that his former client choked up blood.

A few more 'brave' thugs saw this as an opportunity and charged forward, driving more spears deep into Zabuza's back. The dying rogue stumbled forward a little, and I found myself holding my breath and hoping he could just hold on a little longer. Later I would see the irony in rooting for someone I had before considered a deadly enemy. Gatoh seemed to have gained back some nerve, though not much. "If you want to go where your friend is that badly," he warned, "go by yourself!"

Zabuza didn't move, still hunched over. "Unfortunately, I don't intend to go to the same place as Haku," he corrected, voice gruff with the unimaginable pain he must be in.

"W-what did you say? Stop acting so tough!"

It was really only natural for Gato to be terrified, seeing Zabuza stumbling toward him like a vengeful zombie, complete with six spears and a sword still sticking out of him. The concept would haunt even my own nightmares, and I couldn't see him from the front. "I'm taking you…to hell with me!" Zabuza announced, a wicked grin in his voice. I was really glad I couldn't see his face- that would have been the cherry on top to my nightmares. "It's no problem, though… the Demon of Kirigakure can become a real demon if he dies and goes to hell! Look forward to it- I'll let you see if I'm really a cute demon or not in hell!"

The next thing I knew, something small and round and fuzzy went flying into the air. At first I couldn't think what it could possibly be, but when I took a closer look and saw a carp whisker mustache and two piggy eyes, I realized what it was.

It was Gato's head. Just Gato's head. Gato's head, which went sailing off the end of the unfinished bridge and into the water with a loud splash. Another thing to add to my nightmares.

The body, unable to react to being decapitated so suddenly(since it had, in fact, been decapitated and now lacked the brain necessary to react), stood there dumbly for a second, then toppled back to the floor.

No one else saw, but I'm not ashamed to say that I got up and just managed to throw myself half off the bridge in time to be violently sick. That was the third death I'd seen today, not to mention my first beheading. This ninja profession was clearly a more gruesome business than I'd thought. I'd have to get used to this fairly quickly, I thought, wiping my mouth off and leaning weakly against the bridge. Whether I liked it or not, someday I'd have to kill, too…

The group of thugs backed out of Zabuza's way, acknowledging the presence of a power greater than their own, and Zabuza staggered forward, the bloody kunai dropping from his teeth as his attention fixed on a new target. He stumbled and for a second I thought he was going to fall, but he managed to keep upright. "It's time to say…goodbye, Haku," he breathed. "Arigato…I'm sorry…" And then he collapsed.

Naruto gritted his teeth and turned his head, not wanting to see the fallen warrior in such a state, but Kakashi told him not to look away. "It's the end of a man who lived desperately," he explained simply, his tone low and solemn. I didn't need to see Kakashi's face to know the deep respect he held for Zabuza now. I couldn't help respecting him, too- not only Zabuza, but Haku as well.

Sakura was still crying over Sasuke(what was left of Sasuke) when I returned from my little panic attack, and I stood over her silently, the graveness of the situation hitting me again. Uchiha Sasuke was gone…gone forever. The thought made me feel empty, hollow, depressed, for reasons I couldn't fathom. In a way…I would miss him.

"Stupid Uchiha," I muttered, but Sakura didn't look up to yell at me this time, leaving me to turn away with arms folded and watch the rest of the battle in silence.

"Annoying Takashi…"

My entire body froze for one quick second, lungs and heart included, and I almost turned around- but quickly thought better of it. No…no, I had to be imagining things. I only knew one person who would refer to me with that kind of… rude jerkishness, for lack of a better term. But he was dead- cold and dead, Sakura had confirmed that- so I couldn't really be hearing him. It was impossible.

"Sakura…you're heavy…"

There it was again… Without my permission, my head turned to look behind me.

Sakura was staring wide eyed at Sasuke's(what was left of Sasuke) face, but it couldn't just be what was left of him because his eyes were open and his chest was moving, and he was breathing and blinking and talking and…

Alive.

My- our pink teammate's tears of sorrow quickly turned to tears of joy, as she flung her arms around his neck and proceeded to wail anew into his shirt collar. Sakura was seeing this too…and Tazuna, from the looks of his face…which meant it wasn't my imagination and Sasuke was really, truly, actually alive…

Clenching my fists, I leaned in- and kicked him in the head.

"Ow!"

"You jerk!" I snapped, ignoring Sakura whining for me not to hurt her injured Sasuke-kun. "How dare you scare everyone like that? Making Naruto go all crazy ballistic- and making me…"I stopped, not wanting to admit how much his supposed death had affected me, and instead decided to kick him in the head again. "I hate you! I really, really hate you! Not even thinking about how anyone else would feel…"

He grimaced in pain, but stared at me strangely, an unreadable expression on his face. "Takashi," he began seriously, which was ruined by the bare hint of a smirk on his face. "You cried for me again… didn't you?"

There was a pause, before the toe of my sandal landed hard between his eyes and proceeded to grind him into the bridge. "Ugh! I can't believe you! That's the last time- the last time- I let myself shed a tear for you, you bastard! Go back to being dead! Do it now!"

"Cut it out! That hurts!"

"That's the point!"

_**-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-**_

After roughly thirty seconds of punishment for making the team worry, Sasuke got to sit up, despite Sakura cautioning him not to move, rubbing his head and glaring at me out of the corner of his eye. "Where's Naruto?" he questioned. "And what happened to that masked guy?"

"Naruto is safe," Sakura told him soothingly, although she obviously didn't want to talk about Naruto.

"And Haku," I added, emphasizing 'the masked guy's' name, "is dead."

Suddenly interested, Sasuke's head shot up to stare at me. "Dead? Did Naruto kill him?"

My face grew somber, and I allowed Sakura to take over.

"No…I don't know the details, but it seems he protected Zabuza, and…"

The three of us looked toward the current battleground, where Haku still lay on his back, eyes closed in eternal slumber.

"Gato showed up at some point," I filled Sasuke in. Considering I had actually watched the battle instead of crying over Sasuke's body, I was kind of a better informant than Sakura at this point. "But Zabuza…well, he's dead, too."

"Zabuza, or Gato?"

"...Both."

Sakura decided now was as good a time as any to get her brownnosing done. "I believed in you, Sasuke-kun," she said adoringly, clasping her hands together happily. "You must have dodged the attacks to avoid serious damage."

The attacks… I'd never even thought about how exactly Sasuke was still alive. Had Haku done what he'd done with Zabuza- put Sasuke into some sort of near death state? I helped Sasuke to his feet, as Sakura jumped up with no regard for the seriousness of the situation and decided to inform everyone else on the bridge of the great news.

"Naruto! Sasuke-kun is okay! He's alive!"

The blonde turned, startled and confused, cerulean eyes widening as he noticed Sasuke standing next to me. Noticing Naruto was looking, Sasuke shifted his weight, straightened a little, and waved in confirmation and greeting. I could tell from the look on Naruto's face that his relief and joy was greater than Sakura's and mine combined.

"Oi, oi, oi, oi!"

During our mini celebration, everyone had completely forgotten about the murderous mass of armed thugs standing near the edge of the bridge. They seemed to have gotten over their fear and shock after Zabuza beheaded (my stomach turned at the reminder) their source of income, then collapsed in front of them.

"You guys are feeling too safe!"

"You ninjas killed our source of revenue!"

"Now we'll just have to attack the town and steal all the valuables!"

The bloodthirsty men cheered, obviously liking this plan, and I tensed. Not good. The only people with enough strength to put up some kind of fight included Tazuna(who was a civilian) and Sakura(who…was Sakura). Kakashi was exhausted and covered in blood, Naruto should by all rights be comatose, I was full of needles, and Sasuke had just come back from 'death'.

Naruto also seemed to realize the graveness of the situation and turned to our sensei, who looked plenty the worse for wear. "Kakashi-sensei! Don't you have some jutsu that can take them all out at once?"

Ideal though the suggestion was, Kakashi had to shoot it down. "No. I've used too much chakra." He didn't even look able to get up at this point.

This was kind of bad. I looked back at Naruto with a thoughtful frown. What had been that weird power he'd pulled out from nowhere? Frightening as the chakra had been, he'd beat Haku without breaking a sweat. If he could just call that back out..?

Our time for planning was up. With an excited yell, the thugs charged for us and the village, waving their sharp spears and swords and looking very fearsome now that we had nothing to fight back with. "It looks like you get to die a second time today," I noted to Sasuke, shifting into a defensive stance as the mob drew closer.

Surprisingly he smirked, moving into a similar stance despite the needles still sticking out of him every which way. "Don't worry," he told me patronizingly. "I don't plan on dying."

Before I could remind him that I wasn't worried and he'd thought something similar the first time, an arrow shot out of the sky behind us and lodged itself into the bridge right in front of the thugs, bringing them to a screeching halt in startled confusion. Considering no one I knew had picked up a bow the last time I checked, where..? I turned around.

What looked to be the entire male population of Nami no Kuni stood on the other side of the bridge, metal pans on their heads and armed with shovels, pickaxes, oars, spears, pitchforks, and more. In the very front, next to his proud looking mother, was a battle-ready Inari with a finger on the trigger of a crossbow.

"Anyone who gets any closer to this island, will die facing the force of this island!"

Wow, I thought as the men roared in agreement. So everyone had finally decided to stop hiding and take matters into their own hands? Little Inari was who really impressed me. No more sulking and whining- he was all business now. "Heroes are supposed to show up late, you know!" he reminded us confidently with a Naruto-esque grin.

I don't think I really need to describe what happened next. Naruto resorted to his answer to all life's problems: make more Narutos and beat things up, formally known as the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. Kakashi decided to try Naruto's technique for himself, although where Naruto made about five or six, there must have been fifty Kakashi's on that bridge. That combined with him tacking on 'Kakashi style' at the end of Kage Bunshin no Jutsu in an attempt to pass the technique off as his own, made me think he was really in this for the heck of it.

The tough thugs, as brave as their employer before them, ended up pushing each other out of the way to dive back into the boat. Some of them couldn't even hold on to the ladder and fell screaming to the water below.

"And don't come back!" I yelled after them, struggling to make myself heard over the villagers cheering in victory. Even though all they'd done was look intimidating, and those guys had kind of been chickens, and they hadn't had to face Zabuza and Haku...

Zabuza. Haku.

Looking up, I noticed Kakashi slipping away from the jubilant crowd to approach Zabuza's still form. I found myself following behind, wanting to pay my last respects.

"Looks like it's over." Zabuza's rough voice floated up, and I stared down at him. After all this, he was still alive…but I could tell he wouldn't last long. "Kakashi…I have a favor to ask."

"What is it?"

Zabuza went silent for a moment, and at first I thought we would never get to hear his request. When he finally spoke again, his words surprised me.

"I…I want to see his face."

Haku. He wanted to see Haku again. Completely solemn, I looked up at my sensei, who slid his hitai-ate back over his eye in a way with a quiet sadness. "Sure," he replied, silent and grave. "Suten, if you would…"

"H-Hai," I murmured, a little startled that Kakashi had even acknowledged my presence. Nothing more needed to be said as I bent down and helped tug the weapons from our former enemy's back, his blood soon coating my fingertips. My sensei rolled him onto his back in order to pick him up bridal style, and the three of us began the slow walk back to Haku(what was left of Haku). I felt something cold land softly in my hair, and when I looked to the sky, a light snow flurry had begun to fall, as if angels were crying frozen tears from above.

Kakashi placed the dying nin on the ground next to his protégé, stepping back respectfully and pulling me with him. I yielded easily, my gaze still on Zabuza as he spoke his last words.

"We've always been together…so I'll die beside you. If possible…" With immense effort, he lifted his hand to tenderly stroke the boy's face, probably for the first time in his life. "I want to… go the same place… you're going to…"

A final breath escaped his lips, and cold sunlight broke through the clouds as if sent from heaven itself, illuminating the faces of the dead. I knew it must have only been a snowflake, but a single tear traced its way down Haku's cold cheek.

"He…"

Naruto was crying again, fat tears rolling down his whiskered face and disappearing into his jacket. "He was born in a place… where a lot of snow fell…"

"Is that so?" Kakashi questioned softly, not taking his eyes off the pair. "He was pure white, like the snow…"

Closing my eyes, I found myself offering up a silent prayer for Zabuza's spirit- that despite all he'd done, despite declaring himself a demon, he would be able to join Haku in heaven.

'Don't worry…you'll go to that place. Together.'

_**-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-**_

"I was wondering, Kakashi-sensei…"

"Hm?"

We buried Zabuza and Haku side by side, marking their graves with simply cut wooden crosses and Zabuza's sword stuck into the dirt. I had been given charge of making the crosses while the males of our team buried the bodies, and Sakura had twisted together purple flower wreaths to ornament the graves.

The pinkette looked up at our sensei wistfully. "Does a ninja," she asked, "really have to be the way they said?"

Kakashi paused as she got up and came back towards us, evidently thinking of a way to answer. Finally he replied carefully, "Shinobi are not supposed to seek their reason to exist. It's important that they exist as a tool. That idea exists in Konoha as well."

I frowned a little at this. That's all we were? Just tools, after all?

Naruto didn't seem happy at this, either. "Does becoming a real shinobi really mean that?" he asked, put out. "I don't like that. I don't like that at all!"

Sasuke(now 100% senbon free) wasn't satisfied with the answer. "Is that what you think, too?" he pressed, and I found myself nodding agreement.

"Well, no," the silver haired jonin admitted. "That's why shinobi continually struggle over that idea. Like Zabuza, and that boy."

"Haku," I corrected with a hint of impatience. The least we could do was remember his name- it was only two syllables, after all.

The blonde one seemed to think this over, then perked up. "All right! I've decided I'm going to follow my own nindo! I'm running straight down the path where I won't regret anything!"

Normally I would have pointed out that there was bound to be something he'd regret at some point in his life- but I couldn't. Seeing him there, almost glowing in the orange light of the setting sun…I had a feeling he could actually pull off what he said. That is, if he'd stop being such an idiot.

I looked around at the four people beside me. Kakashi…Naruto…Sakura…even Sasuke…I couldn't believe I was saying this, but this team was kind of starting to grow on me.

"Well, what do you know, Uchiha? I gave you another bruise after all."

"Tch. I was exhausted and unprepared- that was a cheap shot, not to mention childish."

"What's childish is you refusing to accept that I bruised your pretty little face again."

"Let's see you try it again!"

"You're on!"

Naturally, that didn't mean I was going to tell them that.

* * *

><p><strong>And finally the Land of Waves is over! Yay, cheers, applause, all that good stuff! And I need to get to bed, so maybe I'll edit this later! <strong>

**Questions? Comments? Concerns? Review please!**


	18. Chapter 18

**I promised myself that since today was my birthday, I would update by tonight. And even though you're not supposed to give other people presents on your birthday, I did.**_  
><em>

**Speaking of presents, I now has a tablet(TABLET!) that I'm trying to get the hang of using. 14 months of begging has finally paid off! That and the lemon cake and chocolate strawberries in my system, that are now fueling me to update. And probably keeping me awake.**

**Honestly this is nothing more than a filler or an omake that I really wanted to do. Primarily because I wanted to give you a little insight into Suten's home life and didn't know how to do it. So sorry there's no real, actual plot here. But Sasuke and Suten interaction aplenty.**

**Enjoy the birthday update! I only own Suten.**

* * *

><p><em>I looked around and found myself in an open grassy field under a clear blue sky. The village was nowhere in sight, but somehow that didn't seem to bother me. The wind blew through my bangs gently, and I closed my eyes to enjoy the moment. I did find a peace in training by myself, but this rare, still peace was even better.<em>

"_Takashi."_

_My eyes opened at the familiar voice, and I looked to my left to find none other than Uchiha Sasuke standing several feet away, arms folded with that old cocky smirk on his face. But somehow it wasn't the same. There was something in his eyes, something in the curve of his lips, that seemed…almost friendly. _

"_Well?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "Aren't you coming?"_

_Normally I would have asked just where he thought we were going, but that matter failed to cross my mind, too. I nodded and began walking towards him, but took my gaze off him for a second to stare at a dark bird flying across the darkening sky. Wait, what time was it?_

"_T-Takashi!"_

_Huh? I turned to look at Sasuke- and choked. A pool of blackness had formed at his feet, and was slowly creeping up his legs as he struggled to get free. "Help me!"_

"_O-oi!" I ran forward to help- or tried to, but my legs froze in place. When I looked down I realized the dark liquid had trapped me as well. "No, no," I screamed, trying to break away but only ending up on my hands and knees, which promptly got stuck as well. I did manage to get one hand out, but that wouldn't help me or Sasuke._

"_Don't fight it," I heard Sasuke call, and when I looked up he was perfectly calm despite the unknown black substance now swirling at his chest. "I want to see where this will take us."_

"_Are you insane? This thing could be trying to kill us!"_

"_Come with me, Takashi," he told me, reaching out a hand towards me. "Don't be afraid." The strange blackness began to swallow him up._

_Immediately I reached out for his hand, hoping to pull myself out of this goo and then knock some sense into him. "Uchiha, if you get us killed…"_

"_Well? Aren't you coming?"_

_Just as I was about to touch his hand-_

"No!"

I shot upright in bed, almost choking on my breath as I struggled to calm myself down. What kind of dream was that? I'd had strange dreams before, but that one took the cake- and the rest of the party, too.

I ran a hand through my loose hair, gripping the sheets tightly as I thought this over. Of course, it was all ridiculous. Whatever black goo that had been, didn't exist. And even if it did, even Sasuke wouldn't be stupid enough to accept it. Oh, I know where it would take us- straight to the underworld.

I shook my head to rid myself of the dream. "Come on, Suten, pull yourself together," I chided myself, taking a deep breath. "Uchiha's a brooding prick, but he won't be having anything to do with any dark creepy things. And he definitely won't be taking me with him." I stopped, then sweatdropped. "And since when do I think Uchiha's got morals?"

Eventually I realized I'd wasted enough time thinking about this. It was just a dream brought on by some bad udon or something. And besides, I had things to do- our team was meeting at the bridge today. Out of bed it was.

I stretched as I came down the stairs, fully dressed and almost raring to go. Now all I needed was some breakfast. Sliding into a seat at the kitchen table, I nodded at the other inhabitant of the room. "Good morning, Kaa-san."

My mother, Kasumi, wasn't a Konoha Shinobi- at least, not anymore. Twelve or thirteen years ago, after the great Nine Tails Attack of legend, she gave that all up and became a housewife, dedicating her life to the tiny baby in her arms- yep, that's me- with the help of other mothers in the village who sympathized with her cause.

My mother turned to look at me, a smile on her face as she tossed me an apple. "Good morning, Suten-chan." She was the only one allowed to call me that. "You'll be out with your team again today, right?"

"Yeah, right." I bit into the fruit, deciding it wouldn't kill me to spend some time with her.

Her blue eyes sparkled as she watched me. "You know, you'll have to introduce me to this team of yours someday," she reminded me. "From what you've told me about them, I'm really curious to meet them."

I shook my head. "I don't know, Kaa-san," I warned, taking another bite. "They're people you have to build up a tolerance to. Especially Uchiha."

"You seem to always have something to say about him." My mother smiled knowingly at me as I continued working on my apple. "Suten-chan, do you have a little crush?"

I promptly choked on my apple and ended up trying to clear my windpipe and reply at the same time. "N-n-nani? Kaa-san, you're crazy! I would never-"

"All right, all right," she cut off, laughing at my obvious distress. That was one thing I got from her. Then her voice took on a serious tone. "But really, be careful with the shinobi men. I thought I was prepared for all the risks, but then your father…"

I nodded solemnly, my gaze drifting to the polished wooden picture frame standing atop a table. In it was a picture of a smiling dark haired man with his arms around my radiant mother, who in turn held a tiny sleeping baby. That man was Takashi Ryuichi, my father and a shinobi who had been killed defending Konoha in the great Nine Tails Attack. That picture, and the others my mother could bring herself to show me, made up all I knew of my father.

"Yeah, Kaa-san," I replied finally. "I know." Half of the apple remained to be eaten, but my appetite was growing weak from the heartbroken look on my mother's face. "I…I'm gonna go meet my team."

She nodded, struggling to bring herself out of her funk and smile for me. "Sure. Have fun, okay?"

"Right."

The apple was left behind in the street as I continued on to my destination.

_**-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-**_

"You're late," I heard as I trekked the last few feet up the hill to our team's meeting point. None other than Uchiha Sasuke was standing there with arms folded, watching me as I joined the group.

"Good morning to you, too," I replied, returning Sakura's glare with a professionally stuck out tongue.

"You're late," he repeated. "Everyone else got here ten minutes ago."

He was trying to get me upset. I raised an eyebrow, but gestured around us. "Do you see sensei?"

Sasuke frowned. "No, but what does that-"

"When I arrive after Kakashi-sensei," I cut him off, folding my arms, "then you can consider me late. Besides, without him, it's not 'everyone else', now is it?"

He gritted his teeth, but stood his ground. "Spar with me."

I sighed. "Again? Thanks, but no thanks." I'd already lost a good vest to one of his Big Bad Wolf no Jutsus.

"Ehh?"

If we had forgotten Sakura and Naruto were there, we were very loudly reminded.

"You and Takashi?"

"You and Teme?"

I stuck a finger in my ear and wiggled it around, checking for damage. "Now look what you did, Uchiha," I chided, "the secret's out."

Predictably Sasuke scoffed, clearly a little annoyed that our spar was being postponed. "It wasn't much of a secret," he replied testily.

"But what's going on?" the orange one demanded, not liking the thought of being out of the loop. "You two train together now? Since when?"

After a brief glaring contest to determine dominance, Sasuke and I grudgingly decided to fill our teammates in together. Obviously if Sasuke had pulled his new Sharingan out, he would have won- but Kakashi had warned him not to use it against his comrades and more importantly, he was still working out the kinks of the technique and how to flick it on and off like a light switch.

The time after our mission to the Land of Waves had left me feeling pretty useless. Other than a little rescuing and playing backup to Sasuke(which was by no means okay) I'd basically just sat there and watched the whole time. The entire party probably all would have died- twice- if not for Naruto. Naruto, of all people.

Then one day, Kakashi came to my front door(read: through my bedroom window) and dragged me out to the middle of the woods to meet up with Sasuke, who apparently also felt like a lousy fighter after the mission. The Jonin then basically shoved us together, coming up with some story about how our strengths and weaknesses balanced us out, and told us to spar.

It was a closely watched death match disguised as a spar, comprised mainly of pent up angst and hatred. Sasuke broke my wrist. I cracked one of his ribs. I won.

After a quick trip to the hospital to get patched up, our sensei took us out for dinner and, predictably, left us with the bill and a long, sore walk home at dusk. Not only that, he proceeded to drag the both of us out again the next day and started the whole thing over again. Eventually we just went to the new training ground ourselves so he wouldn't have to drag us through the village. Eventually Kakashi stopped coming to watch.

"So basically," Sasuke finished, with hands jammed in the pockets of his white shorts, "it's a forced habit that Kakashi snuck on us. Nothing really to it."

Not to Sakura. Her face was crimson with fury and disbelief as she jabbed a finger at me, looking as if I had basically spat in her face. "You've been eating with Sasuke-kun?!" she screeched.

"No, Sakura. We've…well…" I tapped my chin, thinking of a way to deny what she had in mind. "I've just been going out for dinner almost every night…and Sasuke's been going to the same place…at the same time…sitting at my table…splitting the bill with me."

If Sasuke hadn't thought he was too cool for it, he would have rolled his eyes. As it was, he sighed and shook his head. "What she means is, we've been eating and spending time together as sparring partners and teammates only. I don't have time for dating, and if I did…" He paused and looked me over, "Takashi's not exactly my 'type'."

"By which he means, I'm not Naruto."

"H-hey!"

A tick mark appeared on his forehead. "By which I mean, I'm not into girls-"

"There, see? That wasn't so hard-"

"Like her," he finished, grinding his teeth. "Don't project your sick fantasies onto me."

I choked, face reddening. How dare he accuse me of fantasizing about him? "F-fantasies? Like I would fantasize about anything like that- especially with you involved!" I added, folding my arms and sticking my nose in the air.

Sasuke glared back at me. "If you don't want to think about it, don't drag me into it, too. Especially with Naruto."

"HEY!"

"How is anyone supposed to know you're not into guys?" I shot back. "The way you act, how do we know you've got a 'type' at all? Like I told Sakura- asexual."

He scoffed. "Tch. Excuse me for not making out with every girl in the village who throws themselves at me!"

"Considering the only person in the village you've made out with is a guy, no wonder, Uchiha!"

"You know what happened that day! And it wasn't making out- it was unwanted lip contact!"

"Unwanted lip contact? Oh, that's a good one! At this rate, the Uchiha clan is doomed to extinction!"

Sasuke's onyx eyes flashed dangerously, and I knew I had struck a nerve. "Don't start on the Uchiha clan with me, Takashi."

For my sake, not his, I kept my mouth shut. There were some topics even I wouldn't pick a fight with Uchiha Sasuke over. Especially not when he had such a dark look in his eyes. I frowned a little and shifted my weight, looking away from him to where a bird soared in stark contrast against the clear blue sky.

"Fine."

Thick silence reigned in the clearing, Sasuke off in his angsty world somewhere, Naruto and Sakura too afraid to set him off…and maybe I was, too. At least, I didn't want to set him off. Fear of Sasuke was not something I would ever feel- at least, not in this lifetime.

All the same, I couldn't have been more relieved when Kakashi finally showed up.

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><p><strong>Eyup. That about finishes it. Sorry it's a little short wordwise. Ah, the joys of sugar high.<strong>

**Signing off to go to bed, in the hopes that I'll come down from my sugar high before 2 am. Happy Birthday to me. I had a zombie dream the night before my birthday and woke up scared out of my mind. Why, of all nights, would it be last night? I wasn't even watching anything zombie related, but it was really scary. :(**

**The thing about me and zombies is that I'll stay up all night reading zombie apocalypse fanfiction and watching HOTD and The Walking Dead and etc etc. And then I will not be able to go to sleep for fear that said apocalypse will break out while I'm sleeping and a zombie horde will bust down the front door. It's so bad that I refuse to let myself have anything to do with zombies unless the sun is up and will be up by the time I'm finished. **

**And I'm probably not helping myself by imagining this now. DX**

**You know what I'd like for my birthday? Some reviews :D When you think about it, it's a perfect gift. Enjoyable, yet completely free to send.**

**Questions? Comments? Concerns? Please review!**


	19. Chapter 19

**Ta-da, an update. I decided from now on I'll be thanking everyone who reviews. Because though my Favorites and Alerts are surprisingly many, my reviews are still few. So thanks to Blackenflames and XxanimeaddictxX for taking the time to give your input! Really means a lot- seriously.**

**Since I've decided to get this out to you now, I'm going to post this, then edit it when I finish the second half of this chapter. Instead of doing it in parts, because this is if anything a chapter-let. Which does not involve the Chunin Exams! I want to further Sasuke and Suten's relationship a little more.**

**If you want to use the exercise/mission/game I made up for this fic in something else, go ahead, but ask me and credit me when you do.**

**I own Suten and that is all!**

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><p>"Good morning, students," Kakashi greeted cheerily, strolling up and thinning the tense atmosphere that had settled over the clearing in his absence. I breathed a soft sigh of relief and unfolded my arms, although shooting a glare at Sasuke to remind him that he may have won this argument on account of me pushing too far, but whatever battle came next would be a battle where I came out on top.<p>

Sasuke returned it. Oh, so he wanted to go now. Your challenge has been accepted, I thought, shifting my position so I could hit him with the full force of my glare. Ever the worthy opponent, he matched me in intensity, even folding his arms across his chest in a display of dominance and authority. Valiantly I refused to back down and-

"When the two of you are done gazing lovingly into each other's eyes, we do have something on the agenda for today."

The glaredown was immediately canceled as we averted our eyes from each other in disgust, and I felt my face turn a few shades warmer. "You're wrong, Kakashi," Sasuke hissed, his voice sounding unusually strained, and I hmphed, folding my own arms again and staring back up at the sky again. That stupid book he was always reading had to be giving him ideas…

The Jonin with lopsided hair hmmed. "Well, whether I'm wrong or not, that doesn't change that this mission is all about you two," he replied casually, pulling out aforementioned stupid book and turning to a dogeared page. He either read one sentence per week, or had by now memorized every smutty line.

Since nobody wanted to actually ask what Kakashi was talking about, our resident pinkette took it upon herself to pose the question. "All about Sasuke and Suten?" she repeated with more than a little suspicion, staring at the two of us as if trying to imagine what we would be doing. "What do you mean, sensei?"

"Just what I said," he replied in his usual ambiguous way, still buried in the contents of his little orange book. "I realized that if this team is going to get anywhere, we'll need to fix their teamwork issues and get them to work together."

He had it all wrong. I frowned a little and tilted my head, trying to think of a way to get the man to understand. "It's not really 'teamwork' issues so much as 'Uchiha' issues," I elaborated finally, shooting a sharp look at Sasuke, who was quick to return it, "and we've made a working-together decision not to actually work together. So I don't think whatever you have planned is necessary."

Our sensei's lone eye fixed on me for a minute, possibly deciding how best to respond to my explanation. "So what they're going to do," he continued, pretending I hadn't said anything- which I didn't like at all, "Is undergo a training exercise spanning a week."

Sasuke cast a glance at my grinding teeth(I really did not like being ignored), and apparently decided he could explain things better than I had. "You've already pushed us into training together every day," he reminded, tone of voice giving away just how he felt on this subject. "Anything else would be a waste of time and energy." Which was basically another way of saying he didn't want to be stuck with me any more than was necessary, and vice versa.

"This mandatory and completely inescapable exercise," Kakashi continued, not even pretending to consider taking Sasuke's opinion into account, "has been used to smooth over feuds between young genin for generations." He caught our now clearly peeved expressions(the strong dislike of being ignored was one of the few things Sasuke and I shared) and added almost as an afterthought, "Of course, if you two are so strongly against the idea, we can always use a body switching jutsu, or handcuff you two together..."

Handcuffing me to Uchiha Sasuke? I think not. As stated before, we didn't need to be stuck together any more than was necessary- and what happened when we needed to sleep? Or worse- pee? But body switching on the other hand… My gaze slid over to Sasuke at the same time his slid over to mine. The analysis only took a second.

"What's the exercise?" Sasuke and I asked hastily, then shot glares at each other because we had spoken at the same time.

I know for a fact there was a triumphant smile hidden beneath that mask for a second, but our sensei concealed it fairly well. "Hmm? It's called 'Kishi to Hime'."

There was a pause.

"…Kishi to Hime," the Uchiha stated, in a tone dripping with incredulity and barely concealed irritation.

"That's right."

"Knight and Princess," I confirmed, in a tone dripping with incredulity and barely concealed oh-jeez-this-will-not-end-well.

"Exactly."

There was another, longer pause.

Sasuke spoke the collective mind first, obsidian gaze narrowing. "What kind of exercise is that?" he asked sharply. And as much as I hated to admit it, he was right. That sounded more like a fairytale or a cheesy book than a shinobi training exercise.

"It's the kind of exercise you two will be doing," Kakashi replied lightly, causing the two of us to grind our teeth at his clearly intentional vagueness. "And you would already have found out just what you'd be doing, if the two of you didn't interrupt every time you heard something you didn't approve of."

Naruto, who had been surprisingly quiet this whole time, quickly decided to make up for it. "Ne, ne, Kakashi-sensei," he complained, face scrunched up in protest, "while Sasuke-teme and Suten are off doing their Kishime mission, what are me and Sakura-chan supposed to do? I don't wanna just sit around the village and do nothing a whole week…"

The silver haired man sighed, tilting his head back to stare at the sky. "Mataku…I must have the brattiest genin of this year," he lamented, just loud enough that we could hear, but then looked back at Naruto and continued as if he hadn't said anything. "I figured you would say that, Naruto, but I've already got it taken care of. You, Sakura, and I are going to be doing some special three-man missions while we wait for them to fail- er, finish."

As Naruto beamed and began going on and on about how much better he would do now that Sasuke was out of the way, I sighed heavily and turned away. Thanks for another vote of confidence, sensei. I highly doubted his Freudian slip had been so accidental. Then again… my gaze drifted to my exercise partner, who appeared to be trying to ignite a blade of grass with his glare- before he somehow felt my eyes on him, looked up to meet them, and almost immediately redirected his onyx eyebeams at the grass again, this time with a scowl.

If the point of this exercise was teamwork between the two of us, failure looked to be the only possible outcome.

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><p><strong>Hehe it's funny because she's right. I'm going to add the rest of the chapter below this. Think of it as an intermission..? <strong>

**Oh, and don't let this stop you from reviewing! Just sayin...**

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><p><strong>Edit: And I'm back! Thanks to XxCupcakeAssassinxX (I was making cupcakes when I saw your review) Blackenflames, and XxanimeaddictxX for reviewing that segment...and thank you Marce5500 for reviewing the first chapter! I hope everyone continues to read this! ^^<strong>

**I'm listening to Naruto Soundtracks to fuel my creativity and I think it's working, so...On with the rest of the chapter!**

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><p>"All right, now I'll be explaining the rules."<p>

"Sensei?"

"…looks like what I said earlier made no difference. Yes, Suten?"

"Why am I dressed like this?"

Naruto and Sakura had already gone off to the Hokage Mansion for their first missions of many. Sasuke, who had for some reason been able to keep his regular clothes, was trying very hard not to look at me in my new getup. Probably so he wouldn't burst out laughing, I was sure. Instead of my never failing, ninja ready attire, I now wore a constraining, deep red kimono patterned with pale white and black flowers. Around the really uncomfortable piece of clothing was a navy blue obi, secured with black cord. And if that somehow hadn't been enough, my dark hair had been pulled out of its simple and efficient ponytail and pulled up into some high…twisty…style and topped with a sprig of little red flowers.

So in short, I had never felt more out of my element in my life.

"If we're going to be performing a mission," I ground out through gritted teeth, twisting the black cord around my finger and resisting the urge to rip it out, "I don't see why I have to wear something this ridiculous. How am I supposed to do anything?"

Kakashi sighed, folding his arms. "Now, Suten, it looks like you really weren't listening earlier, so I'll say it again, slower." He leaned in towards me, his lone eye closed in what I knew was a patronizing smile, and repeated, "If you'd be quiet and let me talk instead of butting in all the time, you'd learn what you wanted to know sooner."

"Just tell us the rules, Kakashi," Sasuke ground out, finally getting over his aversion to my outfit, but keeping his eyes trained firmly on our sensei. It seemed that the attitude of wanting to get this over with quickly had returned.

The older man hmmed, but straightened, evidently deciding to get down to actual business. "Alright. Kishi to Hime. This mission is deceptively simple," he began. "Sasuke, you're the knight. And Suten, you're the princess."

That partly explained the getup. I opened my mouth to ask why I couldn't have been a princess in my usual clothes, but at a warning look from Kakashi I promptly closed it.

"All you have to do is make it from here, to the checkpoint hidden somewhere in the forest surrounding Konoha. Which you'll have directions to with this," he added, noticing our skeptical looks and producing a map from the pocket of his Jonin vest, "so don't go searching the whole Land of Fire, okay?"

Sounded simple enough, but I felt pretty confused by the directions. Kakashi said the point of this mission was teamwork, and the way he put it, nothing was stopping us from traveling together in absolute and strained silence- or better yet, knocking each other out, snatching the map, and racing off to the checkpoint with our comatose teammate in tow. I knew for a fact that my first priority was getting out of this kimono.

"Wait- I didn't explain the actual rules yet," Kakashi warned, holding the valuable sheet of paper out of reach as Sasuke's hand reached out for it at the same time as mine. Oh, so we shared the same thoughts about the take-the-map-and-run strategy. "You think I called you two Knight and Princess for the fun of it?"

"Well, you obviously dressed me up like this for the fun of it," I muttered, twisting the black cord again.

As expected, the Jonin ignored me. "Sasuke," he stated, making the young Uchiha look up. "As the Knight, your job is to protect Suten from all the threats you'll encounter- but other than that, you're not allowed to act for yourself. The Princess calls the shots, got it?"

The new Knight scowled darkly, folding his arms tightly across his chest and directing now fully charged eyebeams at a tree, and I inwardly danced for glee, allowing myself a small fist pump and a grin. Finally, that self-righteous prick would have to listen to me!

"Don't get so excited, Suten. Because as the Princess, you're not allowed to fight."

Eh?

"It's true you're technically in charge of Sasuke. But you're relying on him for your survival- since as you so aptly noticed," he added with a closed-eye smile, "that outfit you're wearing doesn't allow you to do much, and I've taken everything but your sandals. This is, if anything, an escort mission."

I gaped at him, stunned. This had to be the worst mission ever. "But…but you're crazy," I burst out finally. "Sasuke could just knock me out and drag me along with him since I'm so defenseless."

"And Suten could ask me to walk off a cliff and I would have to do it," Sasuke added, clearly furious about his new role. "Did you even think this through?"

"You could do those things," Kakashi continued in the same unworried tone of voice, "but you won't. Knocking the Princess out is grounds for immediate failure of the mission. And you both need to make it to the checkpoint- alive, fully conscious, and at the same time. Ah, speaking of which," he added, pulling out his trusty Icha Icha and proceeding to read, "I'd like you two to get in the habit of calling each other 'kishi' and 'hime' during this mission."

Cue a round of synchronized eye twitching. It had to be those stupid books giving him inspiration for something this insane. One day I would make it my personal life's mission to burn every copy of the series in the world.

Seemingly convinced that he had made this the most ridiculous and trying mission we would ever have to undergo, the silver haired Jonin nodded in satisfaction. "Well, I think that's about everything for the rules," he replied, turning and heading nonchalantly out of the training field. "Now let's get started, shall we?"

**_-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-_**

A pervasive sinking feeling made itself known in my gut as I turned and watched Kakashi wave from the village gates before heading back inside. So we were just being left to our own devices now, with nothing but a few crazy rules keeping us from killing each other. Good idea, Kakashi. Good idea. With a sigh, I pulled the map out and studied it. "So we're at the gates, and the checkpoint is here, meaning we first need to go down the path until the fork, and then we go east into the actual forest."

"Is Kakashi gone yet?" Sasuke asked suddenly. He had stationed himself a few steps in front of me, scouting out the road as I consulted the map.

I raised an eyebrow at the weird question, but looked behind me regardless. "Wait…yeah, he's out of sight. Why?"

Instead of an actual answer, I got hoisted up and roughly thrown over a shoulder. Sasuke's shoulder, to be precise, as I looked down, confused and disoriented, and found myself staring at his legs. My confusion was quickly cleared up as we started moving. Fast.

"Wha- h-hey- what are you doing? Put me down!"

"You said north-northwest, right?" the Uchiha confirmed sharply, not slowing or putting me down, or giving any sign that he cared about what I said. "We'll get this over with faster this way."

Bad plan. Suten no approve. "You are not carrying me this whole mission!" I snapped, pounding my fists into his back. A tiny part of me wondered at how strong he must be to carry me so easily. "Put me down right now or I will find a way to make you regret it! You do have to listen to me this time!"

Clearly frustrated at the reminder of the stupid rules of the equally stupid mission, Sasuke stopped and shoved me off with a grunt, making me fall quite gracefully on my back. "You will not make this easy, will you?" I grumbled, sitting up and rubbing my head.

"What do you suggest we do, Your Highness?" he questioned, voice dripping with something akin to sarcasm at the title as we stared each other down.

I scowled at him, getting to my feet and dusting myself off. "We walk," I replied with hands on my hips, trying to look and sound authoritative. "We walk like we did with Tazuna, unless you'd like to help me out of this kimono." I felt my face heat up as I realized the… implications of what I just said. "No- I mean- that's not-"

Sasuke's face turned an odd shade of pink and he quickly looked away, continuing on past me. "Tch. Fine. We walk."

Well, it worked. Not in the way I intended, but it worked. Walking it was, I decided, hurrying to catch up with my new Knight.

The walk towards our first landmark, the fork in the road, was in silence, as I had predicted. I scouted out the rest of our path with the map for something to do that didn't involve staring stonily ahead, but eventually I couldn't help but notice Sasuke's infrequent glances in my direction. At first I pretended I hadn't actually noticed because I didn't want to start anything awkward, but when he started flat-out staring at me with a weird look on his face, I couldn't ignore him anymore. "What?" I asked finally, meeting his gaze with a slightly accusing expression. "You've never seen a girl in a kimono before?"

Realizing he had been caught, he looked away again, dark bangs hiding his face. "Hn. It's the colors," he replied after a moment, voice slightly strained.

And now I was officially confused. I looked down at my elegant looking ensemble. Blue. Red. White. Black. "What about the colors?" I pressed. It wasn't as if I was wearing pink or bright orange.

"If you don't know, I'm not telling you."

"I'll find out when we finish this mission."

"I'd prefer if you didn't."

"All the more reason I will."

"You probably won't find anything."

"Then tell me!" I exclaimed, fed up already. "Just tell me so we can get it over with."

Sasuke stopped without warning, slowly and deliberately taking his hands out of his pockets. I was more than ready to snap at him for stalling, but I stopped too when I felt it. We weren't alone anymore.

"Get down!"

Without question I hit the ground, the wind from a sudden barrage of shuriken ruffling my hair. If he hadn't sensed that… Tentatively I lifted my head.

A small group of rough looking bandits blocked the path ahead, carrying ninja weapons that they must have garnered from young and reckless ninja. Probably genin, like us. They couldn't even throw correctly, I noted, looking at the shuriken scattered on the ground as I got to my feet. But they did have melee weapons, and those could be dangerous even if they weren't professionals.

"Just a couple of brats," announced one, who I identified as the leader from his overwhelming confidence. He sneered, folding his arms. "You picked a bad place to take your girlfriend on a date, kid."

Inwardly I cursed Kakashi to die a thousand deaths, alone and with no Icha Icha to be found, for shoving me into this getup and us into this mission. Outwardly I tried not to blush. Geez, can't a guy and a girl walk alone together without everyone thinking they're dating?

Sasuke didn't respond, but shifted into a defensive stance, making clear his intentions to fight. "Stay behind me," he ordered, not looking over his shoulder, and reluctantly I obeyed. Without question, when the time came to fight on this mission, Sasuke was automatically the one in charge.

At the leader's orders, one of the bandits charged, yelling like an idiot with skinny raised fists. The young Uchiha only scoffed at the unnecessary show(which was funny considering what he had been doing to climb trees) and waited until the very last second before ducking and landing a sharp kick beneath the bandit's chin, directing his momentum upwards. He quickly followed the man into the air and with another kick, sent him spinning into a tree.

"You stole my fighting style," I commented with a frown as the Uchiha landed in front of me again. He ignored me, focusing back on the bandits, but I didn't miss the little smile that flashed across his face.

The rest of the fight- if you could call it that- was pathetic and pretty uneventful. The big tough bandits didn't stand a chance against a twelve year old rookie genin, and were groaning in pain in various positions on the ground in about twenty seconds flat. My only regret was that I didn't get in on what action there had been- it wasn't a desire to fight so much as a desire to not just sit on the sidelines. I sighed, figuring I would get a chance at some point, and turned to rejoin Sasuke.

A rough hand forced my arm behind my back, the cold edge of a kunai's blade pressing across my throat. Evidently the boss was still conscious, I noted, feeling hot breath down my exposed neck. "Sorry it had to come to this, kid," gasped the man, sounding clearly desperate. "Now don't move or your girlfriend gets it." Sasuke's eyes narrowed, but he didn't move, evidently trying to figure out how to save me without risking my life.

I sighed, not enjoying being underestimated, and jabbed my other elbow into the bandit leader's gut, knocking the wind out of him. His grip loosened on my wrist, so as he coughed and wheezed I freed my arm, grabbed the kunai, and soundly whacked him over the head with the handle. He sank like a stone.

If that was all the action I would get out of this fight, I'd take it. Happy to have a weapon now, I twirled the kunai around my finger and stuck it into my obi, sticking out my tongue at the now comatose boss. Feeling eyes on me, I looked up to see Sasuke staring at me, onyx eyes now wide in clear shock. Apparently the thought of me taking care of myself had never crossed his mind.

I raised an eyebrow at him, sticking a hand on my hip. "Even if I'm in a kimono, kishi-no-baka," I reminded with a smirk, "I'm still a kunoichi."

He continued to stare.

Cue a sigh from me- but I still felt pretty good about myself. "Let's just go on with the mission," I added, still smirking as I continued on past the Uchiha and down the path, studying the map again in an attempt to look professional.

It took about a full minute before Sasuke could give his signature grunt in response.

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><p><strong>Sasuke, why so sexist? Just because she's a girl and in pretty clothes doesn't mean she can't knock heads if she needs to. <strong>

**Sasuke: Tch. You dressed her like that on purpose.**

**Yup.**

**Sasuke: Just to mess with me.**

**Guilty as charged :D**

**Alrighty then, time for you guys to review! I don't know if you get sent email alerts when I edit a chapter, but let's cross our fingers!**

**Questions? Comments? Concerns? Please review!**


	20. Chapter 20

**This is what I think I'm going to call the fluff chapter. As I'm sure you wonderful people have guessed, the purpose of this mission is Kakashi working with me to get the two of them together. You may think Kakashi just wants them to work on their teamwork, but he's a crafty old sensei.**

**So this chapter isn't going to focus on action so much as awkward preteen stuff made even more awkward by the socially awkward preteens. Which is awkward. And no, it's not just me shoving them together in creative ways. I swear, it's not. **

**Really. THERE WILL BE MORE ACTION NEXT CHAPTER!**

**This chapter was brought to you today by my reviewers, and WOW, there were actually a lot this time! **

**Blackenflames! XxCupcakeAssassinxX! Nemuchan123! PouringRain-BlazingStorm! The guest who has 3 Japanese textbooks(no, I can't respond to anon reviews)! xOxO Lost Angel OxOx! JustPlainOldMe! EpicShadowNinja! Blackenflames again! XD And newly joining us...Mina! E-cookies to all of you!**

**I own Suten and that is all!**

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><p>"We're lost."<p>

"Hn."

My eye twitched. We had been walking through the trees in a direction presumed to be east for about an hour now, and had yet to come upon the large boulder that we had to go southeast by on the map. "You got us lost," I repeated in irritation. "Can't my oh-so-reliable Kishi-san read a map?"

Sasuke folded his arms over his chest as he walked beside me, clearly frustrated as well. "We're not lost, Hime-sama," he snapped, the title coated with sarcasm. "Obviously it'll take more than a few minutes to get to our next landmark."

I found myself staring at him, unwilling to believe his stubbornness. "So by your logic, it could take us all night to get to this boulder."

"Exactly. So shut up and walk." His onyx eyes cut across to me. "Unless you'd prefer me to carry you…"

"I thought you said shut up and walk."

A smirk spread across Sasuke's face as he sensed he had won the argument. I glowered at him, unwilling to admit defeat but having no other option, especially since there was the slightest possibility that he could be a little bit right…which, of course, was another thing I wasn't going to admit. So basically I was going to say nothing at all.

"I see Hime-sama is enjoying the view…"

My face flooded with color upon realizing I hadn't stopped staring, and I quickly averted my eyes. "In your dreams," I hissed, "I think we've established I'm not one of your fangirls, Uch…Kishi-no-baka." Even I couldn't deny that okay, Uchiha Sasuke was kind of attractive, but obviously that only made him an even bigger jerk than he would have been if he was ugly. Part of me wished he'd become a little more ordinary looking and a little less of a prick when we got older, but somehow I got the feeling that wouldn't be the case.

And then there was that other, steadily growing louder part of me that I pretended didn't exist.

"Tch." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him jam balled fists in the pockets of his shorts, staring up at the leafy canopy above our heads. "You say that like I want you to be," he muttered.

"Well, from the way you keep bothering me about it, you must want me to be something."

Apparently not expecting such a response, Sasuke stiffened visibly, ducking his head to allow raven bangs to cover his face like a curtain. "I thought we were shutting up and walking," came his not-response, sharper and more hurried than usual.

The reaction confused me a lot, but eventually I decided to attribute it to the fact that we had, after all, been talking about his fangirls. Even the thought of those vultures would make anyone jumpy, I told myself, and if you couple that with impatience to get this mission over with… Even though it was nice not having Naruto carrying on about how well he'd do on this mission and Ichiraku ramen and becoming Hokage someday, dattebayo, or Sakura giving me the evil eye and yelling at Naruto to shut up and purring about how Sasuke-kun was so cool in a way that twisted my stomach into knots, or Kakashi-sensei immersing himself in his explicit literature and deadening himself to the real world and being just plain weird sensei, and just having someone who was as committed to the actual mission as I was.

Not to say that Sasuke didn't have his annoying quirks, too. Sasuke never listened and always had something callous to say, he was and always would be a stuck up, selfish jerk, and he was just…just so…so Uchiha!

Another hour later, Sasuke broke the silence again. "Che. Look."

What had gotten him all riled up now? I followed his gaze to the now darkening sky, where the cottony clouds overhead were converging and growing into something more foreboding. Oh, I thought, the muscles in my stomach tightening instinctively at the realization of what was to come. "Is Kishi-san afraid of a little rain?" I questioned without expecting an answer, keeping my gaze on the slowly closing gaps of sky in anticipation.

Beside me, the Knight's attention wasn't fully focused on me, either. "You wish. Is Hime-sama?"

"You wish."

We both stood there for a few minutes, heads tilted upwards to the sky in silent expectation. The cool wind picked up to brush our faces and tease our hair, bringing the heavy damp scent that could only be identified as rain. Only the low rumble of thunder in the distance broke me momentarily out of my trance. We wouldn't be able to just stand in the middle of the road for much longer.

"Can you run?" came Sasuke's voice as he finally turned to look at me, onyx eyes carefully guarded and unreadable. I took a moment to think it over, before slipping the kunai knife from my obi and leaning over.

A careful slice tore open a slit in the side of the kimono from my thigh, and another created a slit to match on the other side. Testing my newly regained mobility, I breathed out and nodded. "Let's hope that doesn't cost us on the mission, ne?"

He just stared at me, partly shocked and partly calculating, as if I were some new jutsu he just couldn't figure out. Instead of challenging his stare like usual, I looked away almost immediately, fiddling with the kunai knife before stowing it away in my improvised weapons holster, and still he continued to stare. "You," he began finally, but another, closer roll of thunder broke him off, a warning that the time before the rain was almost up. I didn't have time to think before a warm hand slipped into mine and we were running again, pushing through the trees with no clear destination in mind, maybe not even going east anymore.

We squeezed into a pile of rocks forming a small cave just as the rain really began to fall, collapsing at the mouth and staring out with pounding hearts as the forest around us surrendered to the heavy downpour. Thunder growled overhead as the world was lost in gray, illuminated only by the sharp flashes of lighting. It was humbling, the power of a thunderstorm, yet incredibly mesmerizing at the same time.

It took me a minute or so to realize Sasuke had not let go of my hand, and when I spared a glance over at him the Uchiha didn't even seem to notice, watching the storm with rapt attention. It took a little longer to realize I didn't actually mind his touch, and I returned my gaze to the rain. For that small amount of time, we weren't rivals, or teammates, or possibly even Konoha genin. Just Sasuke and Suten, two twelve year olds huddling together in awe of the beauty and power of a rainstorm.

_**-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-**_

I don't know when, but at some point I ended up falling asleep during the storm. I knew this when I stirred heavy joints and my eyes fluttered open, to be immediately assaulted by the weak morning sunlight. Muttering under my breath, I tilted my face away from the light and readjusted my grip on the soft warm pillow tightly, endeavoring to get up and go meet the others in just a few more minutes.

"Suten…"

"Mmm?" came my sleepy reply as I attempted to settle down once more. A few more minutes…Kakashi probably wouldn't be there until noon, I had time… "Hold still, you jerk," I directed to my unusually squirming pillow, and it obediently lay still.

"Annoying…h-huh?"

Annoying? Why was my pillow calling me..?

Fully awake now, I slowly and hesitantly lifted my head to come quite literally nose-to-nose with an also wide awake, wide eyed, and now darkly blushing Uchiha Sasuke. Who had his arms around me. Who I had my arms around.

The mission. The storm. The cave.

Oh. Oh, Kami-sama, why.

The two of us immediately shot away from each other and pressed to opposite sides of the little hideout, staring at each other in fumbling and flustered shock. It took approximately six minutes before Sasuke was able to avert his eyes and mumble something about breakfast, then burst out of the cave like I'd started throwing kunai at him and accusing him of…of doing indecent things which I will not name because…yeah.

My face seemed to be decidedly imitating Sakura's hair as I stumbled outside and began poking around for dry sticks, partly out of necessity and partly out of need for something to distract my racing thoughts. Obviously since I was searching just after a rainstorm, there were basically no dry things just lying around, which left plenty of room for my mind to wander as I walked around snapping branches and peeling bark.

What was wrong with me? Since the mission in Nami no Kuni- no, even during that- I'd been finding it harder and harder to hate Sasuke like I should. There were parts of him that weren't completely unbearable now. If that…scenario in the cave had happened back when we were Academy students, we wouldn't have just stood there blushing like fangirls, we would have been accusing each other of…of doing indecent things that I will not name because…yeah. And Sasuke had yet to make fun of me for going so soft on him- if anything, it was as if he was going soft on me, too.

But why? What was going on?

I was in the process of coaxing my findings into a clump of fire-ready wood when my effectively flustered Knight returned twenty minutes later, barefoot and wet from the knees down, sandals dangling from one hand and messily gutted fish gripped tightly in the other. He seemed to have made it his personal goal not to look at me and I was incredibly thankful for that, and silently took the fish in a way that didn't actually involve touching him before standing back to watch him set my hard work ablaze with his Big Bad Wolf no Jutsu.

The price for being distracted while cooking has always been burnt food, especially if you don't have any cooking items other than kunai knives and wet branches, and that morning was no exception. But considering neither of us had yet gained the courage to speak audibly, there were no complaints, and after the pitiful breakfast we struck out once more in silence. I may not have known what Sasuke was thinking, but I honestly wished that thunderstorm would start up again. Maybe if I was lucky, this time Kami-sama would send a bolt of lightning down and strike me dead, because for crying out loud, _I had been cuddling with Uchiha freaking Sasuke_.

A part of me- you know, that wise little section of my brain devoted to making observations that I pay no attention to- reminded me that the cuddling had been mutual, and even better, that there was in fact evidence to suggest Sasuke had been enjoying such cuddling before he woke up. That is, if his calling my first name(first name!) in his sleep and his current game of trying not to look at me and failing miserably were anything to go by.

I lifted a hand to run it through my hair, and a slight frown tugged my lips upon feeling how loose it was. The elegant twist had come apart during the night and left my dark hair curling just past my shoulders. My fingers reached back to gather it into a simple ponytail with one of the spare hairbands I'd managed to store around my wrist.

"Don't."

The single word empowered by the voice speaking it froze my hand immediately. Sasuke was still pretending he wasn't looking at me, but unless he had recently taken up the hobby of talking to himself as well, it was obvious who he was talking to.

"Don't put it up," he muttered, face flushed pink again despite his obvious attempts to sound casual. "It looks fine."

My hand hovered for a moment more, indecisive, before settling empty at my side. "Okay," came my awkward response a few seconds later, as I joined the game of trying not to look at the other person, equipped with glowing cheeks of my own.

Just for the record, I wasn't leaving my hair down because he'd told me to- and certainly not because he'd said it looked 'fine', which was a synonym for 'good', which was a synonym for 'nice'- pull it together, Suten!, I chided, mentally slapping myself. I was leaving my hair down because I felt like it and for no other reason. There might be some unseen higher force enjoying itself trying to shove me together with him- curse you, unseen higher force- but if nothing else, I would retain my free will. Because I was Takashi Suten. I didn't care what anyone thought.

"Do you… really think so?"

No! Bad mouth, stop moving ahead of my brain! Take it back! You don't want to know what he thinks!

"Hn."

There, see? He's not actually going to tell you what he-

"Yeah. It's different. It's…uh…It's pretty."

The cogs of my mind ground to a halt. I couldn't even tell if I was walking anymore, all I was really aware of was the heat growing on my face. Wait…He…I…did he really just say…

He thinks I look… pretty?

Uchiha Sasuke is complimenting me?

And I like it?

On his end, my valiant Knight had the look of one who wanted to sew his mouth shut, crawl into a deep, dark hole, and die- because that would be preferable to saying the word 'pretty' out loud about anything, much less a girl, much less me. I could almost hear the berating words churning around in his mind. The best thing to do would be to let him suffer in silence until we got this mission over and done with. And that's what I intended to do.

"Ano…arigato."

And there went my mouth again, ignoring all sense of reason. Sasuke's onyx gaze flickered over to me in brief surprise, before he quickly nodded, gave a small "Hn", and returned to unnecessarily studying the map again. Right. We were on a mission. There wasn't any time for any of this mushy-feelings-whatever this was. We were the serious members of Team 7, and it was time to get down to business.

…did he really think I was pretty?

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><p><strong>I honestly didn't realize that 'pretty' was in Sasuke's vocabulary...weird. So I guess he's like an ice cream bar! He's all cold and hard on the outside...but when you sink your teeth in, his coldness makes him better and he's soft and sweet on the inside! And painful for your teeth...and really drippy...and torture to lactose intolerants... <strong>

**Suddenly I want an ice cream bar. O_O**

**You guys keep those reviews coming! I'm really really happy so many of you reviewed, it just...you don't even know, ohmahgosh. :D**

**Questions? Comments? Concerns? Please- wait!**

**Charlieissocoollike! Go to his YouTube channel! Watch him! Subscribe to him! Love him! I don't waste my life on YouTube but I've been doing it for him because he is that awesome- and I usually prefer Japanese guys, but it helps that he's a pretty good looking Englishman. Mm, I want me some Coollike...**

**Okay! Questions? Comments? Concerns? Please review!**


	21. Chapter 21

**You...you guys...Look! Look over there! **

**100 reviews! That's just so awesome, and I really needed that pick-me-up since I've been constantly sick recently. Not puking my guts out sick, just flu/cold/stuffy nose sickness sick. I smile every time I check my email and see another review or alert or favorite. I don't even know how you people are finding this fic! XD I'll have to do a search and see.**

**Okay, a shout out to everyone who reviewed! The guest who said good job, THE NERD KID ON THE BLOCK(please don't die! DX), XxanimeaddictxX, Blackenflames, JustPlainOldMe, Kyoichi Amaya, XxCupcakeAssassinxX, s, mg4of6, Meatbun Attack, JustPlainOldMe two more times(I still got warm fuzzies, so yes, those are reviews lol), Bottomless Pit of EMOTIONS, and the 100th reviewer(even though your review had nothing to do with the fic) nemuchan123!**

**You say I'm awesome, but no- you people are the awesome ones. **

**Unfortunately, I have hit a snag in the writing of this story, and I'll need you people to be awesome again and give me your ideas! This chapter is incomplete and I have NO inspiration for it(I know, I know, I suck) so please help me out! Apparently you aren't alerted when I edit a chapter, so I'll post the next part and continue the story in a new one.**

**I own Suten and a pesky cold, but I would gladly trade the latter for the rights to Naruto. The Uchihas now have the power of love...wow.**

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><p>We had long passed the elusive boulder, and Sasuke had not given any further opinions on my hair, my kimono, or the annoying level of the crow that had now dedicated its life to flying around us and cawing rather loudly. I glowered up at the creature as if that would scare the bird off, but it only fluttered its wings in an almost mocking way and gave me a nice big, "Aho!"<p>

Clearly my glares weren't as proficient as the Uchiha death glare. In the future I would have to work on them. Meanwhile, considering the semi-awkward atmosphere (not to mention my pride) prevented me from asking Sasuke to glare the bird away for me, I moved on to contemplating more important matters.

More important…let's see…Sasuke thinking I was pretty was a taboo subject for now, as was the current state of my hair and the word 'pretty' itself. I didn't want to waste brain cells thinking about Naruto and Sakura, and I could already guess what they were doing: Naruto trying to impress Sakura, and Sakura beating up Naruto. Although someone had to wonder how Naruto took all those hard knocks without some serious hospital time in between. His inhuman recovery speed just seemed to provoke Sakura to hit him harder.

Come to think of it…that chakra in the Land of Waves had to be inhuman as well. But now I thought back, Kakashi hadn't really taken Naruto aside or checked for anything unusual. He'd just brushed the whole thing off.

What was Naruto? And why did it seem like I was the only one wondering?

The worst part was, even if I managed to ask Uchiha Sasuke about his opinion like he had me on Inari, he had been…disabled when the terrifying transformation had occurred. The warm sunlight failed to reach me for a moment as the memory of that cold, lifeless body lying motionless beneath me on the bridge came into my head. If I ever had to see him like that again…even if it wasn't for real…

"What is it?"

Sasuke's voice snapped me back to the present, and I realized my body trembled like a leaf in a hurricane, seconds from being lost to the gale. "Nothing," I responded semi-automatically, rubbing my arms in an attempt to gain some warmth back and trying to ignore his eyes on me.

Naturally, this failed to dissuade him. "Tell me," he pressed, standing in front of me.

"Leave me alone, Kishi."

"As soon as you tell me, Hime."

"It's not important."

"Then it wouldn't be bothering you."

"It's not bothering me."

Onyx eyes flashed with impatience. "That's a lie and you know it," he accused hotly. "You're trembling like a scared little kid and you expect me to believe it's not bothering you?"

He wasn't the only one getting impatient. "What does it matter to you, anyway?"

An important shinobi rule is to be ready for anything and everything. One should never allow themselves to be caught off guard or distracted. A shinobi with their guard down is a sitting duck in the middle of the field, open to attack, particularly if they're providing a perfect cover for the enemy with their own noise. You would think that Sasuke and I, being as smart as we were, would remember that rule. Except we didn't.

So to sum things up, I never got to hear just why my emotional wellbeing mattered to Sasuke. The blow to my head ensured that much.

_**-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-**_

I regained consciousness lying on a cold stone floor, complete with stiff aching limbs and a throbbing pain in the back of my skull. Trying to stretch and relieve some of the soreness provided me with the knowledge that my wrists were bound tightly behind my back. Further examination revealed that my ankles were tied, too.

Well, this couldn't possibly be good. Deciding to take a look at my surrounding, I cautiously opened my eyes.

A low fire burned in the center of the area, casting a low flickering light. I could just make out a few figures barely illuminated by the fire. They all seemed to be huddled around something and snickering to each other.

"Kid's got spunk."

"Yeah, that's what you'd expect from a Konoha brat."

There was the sound of a foot connecting with skin. A choked grunt.

I knew that grunt. I'd had to listen to it and other more annoying noises for a while. It belonged to none other than my Kishi, Uchiha Sasuke himself.

If they'd managed to capture both of us…my blood ran cold.

"Is the other one still knocked out?"

Shoot! My eyes immediately slid shut as I slackened my limbs and feigned unconsciousness, not a moment before I heard footsteps come to a stop near my head. "Your girlfriend's got a pretty face, kid," called the one standing over me. "I'd sure hate to have to mess it up."

Another kick and a low growl. Apparently Sasuke was losing his temper, but this only seemed to amuse his captors. I briefly wondered if he'd be desperate enough to bite them.

"Oh, looks like she's up after all."

A rough hand gripped my shoulder, forcing me roughly to my feet and shaking me. I glowered at the man whose face I could just see, my guise seen through a little too easily, and caught the gleam of metal on his forehead, reflected in the firelight. Rogue shinobi? Then my long hair started drifting into my eyes and I sighed in mild frustration. This was why I kept it up in a ponytail.

Since my ankles had been tied, the rogue thoughtfully dragged me across the cold stone floor to join the little party on the other side of the fire. I resisted the urge to elbow him in the gut, primarily because it wouldn't do me any good that I could think of. And when he took his place in the circle, I stopped wanting to fight completely.

Sasuke lay bound tightly on the ground, already plenty scuffed up and bruised. Breath caught in my throat as I remembered that haunting image of him lying lifeless on the bridge again…but his form shifted and raven bangs fell away to reveal a glowering onyx eye. My lungs immediately began working again in gratitude. At least he was alive.

The little voice whispering 'For now' into my head was quickly squashed.

"Now that your girlfriend's here," called another rogue, one with a scar on the bridge of his nose that almost reminded me of Iruka-sensei, "I think you might want to cooperate, you little brat. First off, what are you doing so far from your village?" He leered at me, strong grip digging tighter into my shoulders and provoking a wince. "And who's this?" he added, searching my face, and immediately my gaze left his.

"An escort mission, maybe," a third with overgrown brown hair suggested, "from those nice clothes of hers."

The Uchiha gave no response, but his glower upgraded into a full-on glare, and that spoke volumes. He must really not like being tied up and questioned like this- it was the only reason I could come up with for him to have such a strong negative reaction to the scenario. My gut twisted uncomfortably as a foot dug mercilessly into the soft flesh of his stomach, causing him to gasp and choke as pain flooded his features. It was one thing to hear him in pain, but to actually witness it…

Sasuke wriggled a little, but settled for glaring over his shoulder as Bedhead dragged him unceremoniously to his feet. Scar-nose's fist immediately connected brutally with the captive's face, earning another choked grunt. Seemingly amused by the small reaction, the rogue set to work driving his fists into Sasuke's face and stomach. I could only watch in something akin to sick horror, and a gasp escaped unbidden from my throat when the 'interrogator' paused to give his knuckles a break and crimson welled up from the corner of my teammate's lips.

And still, he only glared.

"He really is a tough nut to crack," noted my captor, apparently unfazed by his cohort's merciless beating of a defenseless genin. "Hold the girl," he commanded, shoving me to Scar-nose and whipping through handsigns. Lightning crackled to life in his fingers, and he extended two out like a dagger. I couldn't help noticing that he had a short black goatee. "Let's see if he just needs a little more…persuasion."

Was he insane? Even if the intensity of the lightning had hopefully been toned down for the sake of 'interrogation', Sasuke could…

"S-stop!"

The crackling fingers halted only inches from their destination- one unprotected gut- and suddenly all attention rested heavily on me. I needed to work on keeping my mouth from running ahead of my brain. "He…he won't tell you anything," I continued, trying and failing to put some steel into my wavering voice. "No matter what, it's useless. Stop hurting him." The last part sounded even weaker and more pathetic. Despite the rationale I had tried to put behind it, it didn't change the fact that I was begging- me, begging- for Uchiha Sasuke's safety. What was I, Sakura?

Sasuke was the picture of shock as his gaze connected with mine, trying to search my thoughts to discover what I could possibly gain from helping him. The electricity fizzled from Goatee's fingers as he gave me his full attention as well, but his stare was interested and calculating. "Hurting him is useless?" he paraphrased, studying me carefully. Now I really started to regret cutting in, but there was nothing I could say now.

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><p><strong>And now, I have nothing! NOTHING, I TELL YOU! I don't even know how Sasuke and Suten are going to escape! Reviewers, countrymen, lend me your ideas! PLEASE XD Even if you only have a little inkling of a thought and you think, "No, SasuTenLuvr wouldn't care about that-" I would! It would help me! Even if I don't use the specific ideas, the flow of thoughts itself does help me, I promise.<strong>

**Questions? Comments? Concerns? Please review!**


	22. Chapter 22

**I apologize for taking so long to get this chapter out, but it took my brain a little longer to realize I didn't actually have writer's block anymore. Thank you for all your reviews and suggestions! Thanks especially to x-psychicfire-x, who worked with me to crank out an idea! We ought to have smooth sailing from now on!**

**Big big announcement! I AM A WHOVIAN! :D Yay! Decided to check the show out from charlieissocoollike and am officially hooked! So all you other Whovians reading this, by all means make your prescences known! It's incredible how, when you come out, suddenly everyone around you is a Whovian, too. So far my aunt and her sons, one of my best friends, and even my own dad are Whovians. Y U NO TELL ME RAAAH**

**But yes, I'm excited. I bought a TARDIS on PS Home and everything. :3 My favorite Doctor is the 11th, Matt Smith, but David Tennant is a very close second. Eee! Eleven! He's just so adorkable, I want to hug him and then run my fingers through his hair. I honestly envied Amy Pond that one time in her room.**

**EXCEPT THIS FIC ISN'T ABOUT DOCTOR WHO! This is about Naruto, a series I am slowly rekindling interest in because in the manga it looks like somehow, there may be some smidgen of hope for the littlest Uchiha yet. Because finally someone's trying to explain to him without the intent of poisoning his mind.**

**Let's thank my reviewers! XxanimeaddictxX, Blackenflames, JustPlainOldMe(twice!), Sky65, RandomLurker(ooh, scary name), Kirai, x-psychicfire-x, nemuchan123, Anonymous, and Meatbun Attack! And apparently someone suggested this little old fic to The Rare Gem: A Naruto OC Community, so thank you whoever did that, because WOW. :) **

**Enjoy! I own Suten and the random rogue shinobi. And that's it.**

"S-stop!"

The crackling fingers halted only inches from their destination- one unprotected gut- and suddenly all attention rested heavily on me. I needed to work on keeping my mouth from running ahead of my brain. "He…he won't tell you anything," I continued, trying and failing to put some steel into my wavering voice. "No matter what, it's useless. Stop hurting him." The last part sounded even weaker and more pathetic. Despite the rationale I had tried to put behind it, it didn't change the fact that I was begging- me, begging- for Uchiha Sasuke's safety. What was I, Sakura?

Sasuke was the picture of shock as his gaze connected with mine, trying to search my thoughts to discover what I could possibly gain from helping him. The electricity fizzled from Goatee's fingers as he gave me his full attention as well, but his stare was interested and calculating. "Hurting him is useless?" he paraphrased, studying me carefully. Now I really started to regret cutting in, but there was nothing I could say now.

My vocal chords took that opportunity to shut down on me, and I swallowed, a subconscious attempt to get them working again. A step back only bumped me into Scar-nose, who only chuckled.

"Isn't that sweet?" Bedhead commented with a leer, basically shoving Sasuke back to the ground and rounding on me. "The little princess trying to protect her prince. It's like a fairytale."

What kind of backwards fairytales did he read? I mean, I couldn't say I didn't like the sound of me protecting Sasuke for once- but that jerk was nowhere near gentlemanly and lovable enough to be a prince. And I was fairly sure he didn't own a white horse. "No, that's…"

Before I could even try to explain myself, clouds of smoke burst forth from the ground, effectively limiting everyone's vision in the already dim cave. The already low flickering fire, choked from lack of oxygen in the air, sputtered and died, leaving us behind in near blackness.

"Over here."

Huh? Sasuke's voice..? All of us followed the sound and could just make out Sasuke standing nearby, arms folded with that stupid smirk across his face as if the previous torture session hadn't happened.

"How did you escape?" Scar-nose demanded, sounding shaken despite the tough bravado he tried to keep up. I found myself pushed roughly to the ground now that there was a bigger problem to deal with. Huffily, I squirmed on the cold stone floor, trying unsuccessfully to get free- and froze upon feeling a kunai's sharp edge cutting at my bonds.

"It's amazing how many people don't know about this," Sasuke's voice- not Sasuke, I realized with sudden clarity, a clone- carried through the smoke. "Nawanuke no Jutsu- the escape jutsu. It's Academy level, I thought seasoned shinobi like you would have heard of it."

"Hey, what'd you say, brat?!"

"Hold still," hissed Sasuke's voice in my ear, just before the ropes split and I was finally, blissfully, free. "Now let's get out of here."

Immediately I sat up, rubbing my rope-burned wrists and looking back to where I knew Sasuke- the real Sasuke- was. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu?" I couldn't help questioning with a wry grin as he pulled me unceremoniously to my feet. "So sometimes making copies of yourself does help."

"Just shut up and move," the Uchiha grumbled, clearly not happy about having to resort to the blonde one's jutsu as he began pushing me towards the cave entrance. Some sort of weak light from ahead inspired me to keep moving forward- until I realized that the hand at my back had disappeared. Confusion set in as I found myself looking back.

Sasuke was backtracking, a hand on the cave wall. "I'll meet you in a minute- get going."

My eyes narrowed as I realized what he was doing, partly out of irritation and partly out of concern. I could handle myself just fine- not to mention he was clearly the injured party- and he was telling me to leave first? "Look, Uch-Kishi…"

He glared back. "Urusai! I'm supposed to protect you, right?"

I froze, stunned momentarily into tongue tied silence, and could only nod.

"Then I said get going!"

Several responses rose automatically to my lips. He didn't tell me what to do. I wasn't going to leave him. What did he even plan on doing? But in their rush to all be heard, the responses crammed together and, with a single swallow, ended up shoved halfway back down my throat. All I could do was turn and keep walking alone towards the mouth of the cave, a strange and unknown fear welling up within me as I heard Sasuke's unsteady footsteps sounding further and further away. But why was I afraid? I was just about home free.

At the very mouth of the cave my footsteps halted almost automatically and I stared up at the sky, the weak light identifying itself as the last dying rays of the setting sun. Another day wasted. The once tranquil scene failed to give me peace of mind for some reason, and I kept catching myself staring back at the cave, heart thudding in my ears and those sharp responses stuck tight in my throat. And then I realized what was wrong.

I was still waiting for Sasuke to come back. I was still…afraid that I would see him lying dead somewhere. Or that I would never see him again at all.

'Kaa-san…is this how you felt, when..?'

Footsteps from the cave. My own foot slid backwards as I sank automatically into a defensive stance, brain whirring. I already knew without checking that my 'borrowed' kunai was no longer in my possession. If this were an enemy, I'd be restricted to whatever taijutsu I could pull off with a ripped kimono and my hair in my face. Which, when I thought about it, wasn't much. Something else to train against for when I returned to Konohagakure- undesirable situations like this.

After all this my back was still turned, preventing me from seeing who was behind me. My lungs froze as the footsteps drew ever closer, painfully close, terrifyingly close…

"Move."

Huh? Sasuke's voice rough in my ear stunned me. He'd come back? Why had he left? And why did I have to move, we had to rest, he was-

"Get out of the way, hurry!"

Hands grabbed my shoulders and dragged me aside, sending my back slamming into the dirt a split second before blazing fire and smoke erupted with a shuddering bang from the mouth of the cave where I had just been standing. He'd been setting explosives, came the absent-minded realization. That cave must be rubble by now…

The firm warmth of Sasuke's hands remained, and it took me a moment to realize that I could feel him everywhere- and this would be where I tell you not to think dirty, but how couldn't I? His warm, firm body pressing into mine, fingers tangling in my hair, face tucked carefully into my shoulder. The scent of his sweat and something else I vaguely recognized as hair wafted into my nose.

What was this…this feeling? The only person I'd ever hugged as far as I knew was my mother, and it had never been like this. Why did I feel so warm, so safe, yet so confused and nervous? Did this even qualify as a 'hug'? My eyelashes fluttered closed, and I found myself relaxing into…whatever this was, fingers hesitantly lifting to wrap around him in a way I hoped was right. I felt Sasuke stiffen, but for some unfathomable reason he didn't pull away. Was he having the same reaction?

A wild idea came to my drowning mind to forget the mission, even forget Konoha- I'd be fine doing this for the rest of my life, even if it was Uchiha Sasuke. Funny- the thought of who I was… holding didn't make it any less appealing.

A tremble, then a shudder, and I found myself snapped back to reality as Sasuke pushed himself off of me to double over somewhere else. The small flash of hurt(why hurt?) quickly diminished as he choked up a mouthful of blood, coughing and gasping for breath. I noticed the hand pressed into his side and automatically felt disgusted with myself for forgetting he was injured. "You pushed yourself too hard," I began, crawling over to him and searching in his weapons pack. Come on, every shinobi worth his hitai-ate had…there!

"Mind your own business," he hissed, but the pain in his voice and face ruined the effect.

I bit my thumb open and smeared the required blood over the now open scroll. "Shut up and let me help you." If this had been a less serious situation I would have been smug at how much more authoritative I sounded. A small medical kit popped into existence, and I shoved it open, before freezing. "Um…"

I could feel his eyes on me, irritated at having to be taken care of. "What?"

My fingers fiddled with a roll of bandages as I mumbled, "I, um…you… take your shirt off." It was amazing how quiet my voice could get.

"…w-why?"

"Just do it!" I snapped, blushing furiously. As if this mission couldn't get any more confusing and awkward. I swore Kakashi-sensei was conspiring with some higher force…

A pause, then a flash of royal blue from the corner of my eye. Okay, okay. I could do this. I had to go into it…what was the word…objectively! Just a nameless and faceless torso, nothing more. I turned.

Oh. And what a nice nameless and faceless torso it was, too. At this age, you didn't get more physically fit than that.

"…So Hime-sama does like what she sees."

My face reddened further as I shook my head. No! Focus! See the important parts.

It was easier to concentrate when I noticed some of the areas of damage done to his body. My eyes saddened at the dark reddish bruising already beginning to form on his stomach, the footprint stamped into his side. Then his face- a split lip still leaking, more bruising on his face.

The look on my face clearly made him uncomfortable, and he turned away, allowing his bangs to shade his face yet again. "Tch. Just hurry up," he muttered, voice slightly strained.

"H-hai."

I patched him up in relative silence, winding the bandages carefully around his midsection. The action was almost calming to me- even if it was just playing medic nin, at least I was doing something for him.

Doing something! At least I was doing something! Forget the 'for him' part!

"It'd be better if we were near a river," I found myself thinking aloud. "I would be able to do more with cold water." My eyes subconsciously traced over the battered face I could do little to nothing for.

The young Uchiha stared at me, searching my face as well. "How do you know how to do this?" he questioned finally. "Your parents aren't…"

I pretended not to notice his slight wince at the word 'parents' and shook my head, tying a knot in the bandage. "When a child spends their childhood training and climbing trees, eventually someone has to show that child how to fix themselves up." I paused, then added in a more somber tone, "And it's 'parent', not 'parents'."

Immediately he understood. "Then…"

"Yeah. My father died in the Nine Tails Attack. It's just me and kaa-san now."

I didn't quite hear what Sasuke said next, but it sounded incredibly like "Lucky". My face immediately soured upon realizing what he was comparing my situation to. "Look, you asked-"

"I know, I know-"

But I wasn't done. "And I lost my father, you jerk. I will never know what he was like. How does that make me lucky?"

His quickly heated gaze met mine. "Because you won't be able to miss him!"

"Of course I miss him!"

"No, you miss the idea of having a father! You have no idea what it's like-"

"No, I don't! And that's the thing!"

This actually seemed to shut him up for a minute.

"I hear stories about what fathers are supposed to be like to daughters. I hear stories about how they pick you up on their shoulders and make you feel ten feet tall. How they take you out to the fields for training, and tell you "Well done" when you get something right." My shoulders were shaking now, tears burning in my eyes. "I hear stories about how they're the first men to tell you you're beautiful. How they're supposed to challenge every guy who looks at you, and take you down the aisle when one finally passes." Now my gaze met his. "I hear STORIES, Sasuke. And those stories are all I know, all I'll ever know, because I'll never get to experience any of that for myself. So don't you ever- EVER- call me lucky."

He looked away at that moment, and I finally broke, pressing my face to my knees and allowing thick tears to soak the fabric of my now dirty kimono. I'd never cried about my father before, but now I did- the fact that I would never get to meet the man who should have played such an integral role in my life…

"Takashi…Hime…Suten."

My tears lessened momentarily. What else could he have to say now?

"…Gomen ne."

He'd…apologized? I stared up at him. He had that uncomfortable look on his face again. Why was he, Uchiha Sasuke, apologizing? Had the world flipped without my noticing? "…what?"

"I'm not saying it again," he retorted, still sounding as uncomfortable as he looked. "Just…just stop crying. It's annoying."

Despite his stoic appearance, I found myself beginning to smile, straightening and wiping the moisture from my cheeks. "Then stop making me cry and I won't annoy you."

"Tch," he scoffed, but seemed visibly relieved, getting to his feet and holding out a hand. "Come on. We've wasted enough time."

I stared at the offering for a second, before accepting it and allowing him to pull me to my feet, the smile reappearing. "Hai."

And so the mission resumed. Hopefully with no more distractions.

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><p><strong>Knock on wood.<strong>

**That was close! I'm kind of upset with Sasuke and Suten- I'd meant to have a nice bonding moment but they just had to go and get angry with each other. So then I had to go and fix it the best I could(which I'm worried is OOC) and now I'll have to go and get my 2x4 and show them what happens when they don't do what Authoress-sama tells them.**

**...wait, where are you two going? I was kidding! *hides 2x4* Mostly...**

**Questions? Comments? Concerns? Please review!**


	23. Chapter 23

**Ooh, Les Miserables is a great movie. I don't know if I've gushed about it yet, but it's a great movie. Eponine's plight is touching and frustrating(I'm still trying to figure out how Marius could leave the hot girl next door for this airheaded blonde he saw across the street one day) and Enjolras is pretty freaking attractive. Rawr. **

**Juno, which I watched as a teenager for the first time yesterday, is an amazing movie. I found it very inspirational(though I'm not taking her as a role model. I mean, I am, but not in the...physical sense) and my dad and I shared a nice father-daughter moment with Juno and her dad.**

**And Doctor Who...well. I'm not even touching that, because I'm still trying to figure out what the ending of The Name of the Doctor was about. **

**Huzzah, new chapter! We finally move out of the Kishi to Hime arc, though I'm sure you guys loved it! At least...I think you did... Did you? :-/**

**Reviews to thank- and I was surprised to keep getting them even though it took me so long to update- THE NERD KID ON THE BLOCK, Blackenflames, x-psychicfire-x, Reeba(funny, I was actually considering that- shh), XxanimeaddictxX, XxCupcakeAssassinxX, Guest who had nothing to do over the weekend, Nemuchan123(imouto, you didn't actually review the story), JustPlainOldMe(I think Sasuke gets more touchy and unhinged towards the end, which is why he snapped at Naruto so much), and Rouge ninja25! Yay for all of you! **

**I don't own anything but Suten and probably my sucky ideas on chakra. So enjoy!**

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><p>"…is this it?"<p>

After being attacked by a bear (I didn't even realize there were bears in these woods), getting caught in a shower of rain which hopefully wouldn't give us colds, and having issues with the subsequent sticky mud that had emerged from said shower, the two of us had somehow arrived at the final checkpoint: a large clearing amidst the foliage, in the middle of which stood a single tree that seemed to stretch to the sky.

"Looks like it," Sasuke commented, though his gaze darted around the clearing in an attempt to make sure there were so surprise traps waiting.

I frowned slightly. "So…what? Do we just sit here and wait for sensei?"

He snorted, looking at me over his shoulder. "Then we'll be here another week. No, there has to be something we need to do." It should be noted that Sasuke looked back at me not because I was behind him- which technically I was, but not really- but because… Well. Remember those 'issues' with the mud that came from the rain shower? What 'issues' means, is that I ended up losing my sandals to that sludge, and then, since the woods are not good places to go barefoot, I started cutting up my feet on pinecones and thorns and sticks. After Sasuke looked back and realized I was near leaving a trail of blood behind me, he took it upon himself to… carry me on his back.

As you can imagine, I wasn't ecstatic about this idea, and had spent most of the time he'd been walking for the two of us in a half-embarrassed sulk. It wasn't like I was demanding that he let me down, though, and other than informing me I really needed to eat more, Sasuke had offered no complaints, either.

Sasuke, by the way, had walked us closer to inspect the lone standing and therefore very suspicious tree. He studied it for a moment, before forming a handsign and muttering "Kai." There was a small poof of smoke, and a good-sized hole appeared in the trunk. Ahh. Concealing genjutsu. Clever, sensei.

"To keep random passers-by from stumbling on it," I commented under my breath. "Works for me."

Inside this new hole in the tree happened to be a scroll labeled 'Kishi to Hime'. Sasuke studied this as well, turning it over in his hands, before stepping a fair distance away. "Get down," he requested, stooping so I didn't have to land on my feet. "I need your chakra."

I tried not to hesitate, slipping off his back and landing a little hard on my knees as he unrolled the scroll. "You shouldn't just put chakra into something if you don't know what it does," I warned him. That scroll could summon an explosive or send us to Suna as Kakashi's idea of a 'final test'.

"Do you have any other ideas?" he asked, fixing me with his gaze. "We can't just sit here and wait for something to happen. I've come this far and I'm not stopping now because it might be dangerous." Sasuke pressed a hand to the scroll, lifting two fingers to his mouth in a handsign. Then he hesitated and added in a different voice, "If anything does go wrong, I'll accept it as my fault…and as your knight I'll protect you from whatever comes- but we have to take this risk."

Even though I knew Sasuke had to protect me during the entirety of the mission, these words rang differently somehow. It didn't sound like he felt obligated to protect me because of the mission requirements. It almost sounded as if…he wanted to protect me.

"All right," I replied finally, taking a deep breath and scooting forward to take my place by the scroll. "I…I'm trusting you on this." That was something I thought I'd never say, much less to Uchiha Sasuke. But it seemed times were quickly changing.

Together, we gathered our wits…and activated the scroll.

There was the customary large puff of grayish smoke, and Sasuke slipped out a kunai knife as the smoke began to clear, preparing for the worst. I held my breath and automatically leaned backwards, peering through the clearing fog. Before us stood…

Nothing.

Yes, that's right- nothing. No explosives, no Suna, and no Kakashi.

"Of all the things that could have been in that scroll," I commented at last, anticipatory fear melting into irritation, "this is by far the worst."

"How are we supposed to get out of here now?" Sasuke gripped the kunai tighter in frustration, onyx gaze scanning the clearing for anything lurking in the trees. "Did we do the summoning wrong somehow?"

"No, you did it just fine."

Sasuke and I whipped around to see Kakashi appear behind us in another cloud of smoke, masked nose once again buried in his tangerine book of smut. "Sorry about that," he told us casually, as if he'd almost left us stranded in a store and not the middle of nowhere. "I was in the middle of something very important when the summons came, and couldn't join you two just then."

The middle of something important. Sure. "Let me guess," came my dry response, "you were reading an exciting part in the plot."

The silver-haired Jonin had the decency to lower the novel in order to fix me with a vaguely offended looking eye. "I'll have you know that Icha Icha Paradise is Grade A literature, Suten," he informed me. Then his gaze slid over to the look of growing impatience and irritation on Sasuke's face, and he added, "Unfortunately, I'm not here to give you a lecture on this fine craftsmanship, as Sasuke looks ready to remind us."

The young Uchiha got to his feet carefully, looking sour and not in the mood for games as per usual. "Just tell us we passed and take us home," he demanded, stashing the kunai back in his weapons pouch and jamming his hands in the pockets of his white shorts once again. I felt incredibly small and insignificant being the only one not standing, but even I knew that trying to support my weight on cut and bloody feet was a very bad idea. Sasuke seemed to have thought of this as well, because he added with a slight gesture in my direction, "Hime-sama needs medical attention, so hurry it up."

I bristled almost immediately, half with embarrassment that he seemed to be worrying about me and half with irritation- for the same reason. "_I _need medical attention?!" I questioned sharply, fixing him with a glower. "Have you seen yourself lately?"

Kakashi didn't seem too concerned about our arguing. "Well, it's nice to see you two so concerned for each other's wellbeing," he commented amiably before Sasuke could shoot back a response, finally closing his Paradise and putting it away safely in his weapons pouch. "And you were able to use the scroll to summon me as well, so that means this training has somewhat achieved its purpose." Then he hmmed. "Though to be honest, you're a bit earlier than I expected." I'm sure I wasn't the only one to take this to mean he hadn't expected us at all before the end of the week, but there was a matter considerably more important.

Sasuke's onyx eyes flashed dangerously as he slowly took his hands out of his pockets. "Are you saying, Kakashi," he began darkly, "that there was a chance the summoning wouldn't have worked and we would have been stuck here?" His anger was understandable by my standards- we could have been stranded in this area forever, trying to figure out what had gone wrong and cursing Kakashi with every breath.

Apparently his wrath had been almost expected. Our sensei only shrugged his shoulders. "Well, it isn't completely that the summoning wouldn't have worked. That scroll was a…final test of sorts."

So there had been a final test after all. It hadn't been what I had expected in the slightest- which, now that I thought about it, should have been completely expected of Kakashi.

"It wasn't just a summoning scroll, Sasuke, Suten," he continued, now in full teaching mode. "Both of your chakras were needed for a reason other than to ensure you could stand to sit beside each other for a few seconds. Chakra reacts differently based on its owner's disposition. I'm sure you've felt it racing through your body when you get angry enough- that's due to your natural fighting instinct as shinobi- and kunoichi," he added for my benefit. "If you had still been filled with resentment on having to be together for so long and itching to tear each other apart, your chakras wouldn't have responded correctly to the scroll. And that's not all, either.

"Another thing about chakra is that it tends to be touchy about what chakras it mixes with. Mixing chakras of people who… dislike each other can cause serious issues for both parties. It attempts to force the other chakra away or overtake it, creating very unstable mixed chakra, which is dangerous. The two of you have become comfortable enough with each other that you're not trying to kill each other anymore, and as a result, neither are your chakras. They harmonize- hesitantly, but harmonize nevertheless." He gave us one of his signature closed-eye smiles. "Just like their owners."

Sasuke and I turned varying shades of uncomfortable pink and began the not-looking-at-each-other game once more.

"Of course," Kakashi added, wrapping up his lengthy lecture, "If you had failed to summon me, I would obviously have come to get you eventually, though declaring the mission a failure in the process." He gave us a cheery thumbs up sign, still smiling. "But congratulations- you pass this exercise! I always knew you could do it."

Sasuke and I gave him blank, highly skeptical looks. While the boy beside me had been trying to ignite grass with his glare at the time, I distinctly recalled his highly discouraging Freudian slip before he had even dropped us off in the woods. Seeing as said grass-igniting boy beside me had no desire to call him out, I took it upon myself to pose the question I had been considering since Sasuke had unrolled the scroll.

"Does this mean," I asked at long last, looking Kakashi in the eye, "that we can go home now?"

_**-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-**_

"Oh, Sasuke-kun! You're back from your mission?"

The aforementioned ravenette resisted the urge to sigh at the too-familiar voice as he headed on his way home from the hospital. At Suten's insistence he had stayed to get his bruises tended to, and gotten himself landed overnight to ensure he received 'adequate rest' for his trouble. At least his annoying partner on the mission had gotten her more concerning wounds patched up as well- and besides, escaping from the hospital had proved as usual to be child's play. Why did the hospital even bother trying to keep shinobi overnight anymore?

During his musings, his pink-haired teammate had managed to catch up to him. "I'm so glad you came out okay," she informed him brightly, falling into step beside him. "I don't know what Kakashi-sensei was thinking, sending you two on a mission together like that. I mean, first the training sessions, now this- it's almost as if he's trying to get you two together! But I know that would never happen- you two hate each other, everyone knows that."

Sasuke wasn't really paying attention, but he did grudgingly have to admit the girl had a point. Was Kakashi really trying to pair him up with Suten- romantically? He banished the thought from his head and kept walking.

Beside him, Sakura continued to blather. "I had to work on missions with Naruto all week- what a nuisance! That kid can't do anything right. Once we had to whitewash a villager's fence, and not only did he get paint all over himself, he kept slopping swirls all over the fence instead of painting it completely like I did. Then another day we had to do this woman's shopping- and Naruto broke all the eggs on the way back and I had to pay for more because he forgot his wallet. I don't even know why I let him carry the eggs!"

He briefly entertained the concept of telling the girl flat out that he really couldn't bring himself to care, and that she needed to stop talking now and go find someone else. But that used up more words than he felt like using right now. Maybe it would have been better if he'd stayed in the hospital a little longer. Suten wouldn't be able to escape with her feet healing, and she probably could have used the company- even if she was annoying to try to hold a conversation with. It was a different kind of annoying, though.

"Oh, this week was stressful." Not noticing his frustration with her, Sakura turned to him, curious for some input. "So, Sasuke-kun, what happened to you this week on your mission?"

Even if he could be bothered to give her an actual answer, even Sasuke wasn't completely sure what had happened the past week. He decided to stick with his typical reply. "Hn."

It wasn't a satisfactory response, but she seemed to understand it was all she would get from him on the matter, and the pinkette was successfully silenced for the moment. Thankful for the quiet, Sasuke's mind drifted to the matter of the week he had gone without proper training. Should he begin training again once he got home, or wait until morning and get the 'adequate rest' the hospital had been so keen on? Or, as an appealing alternative, he could get Suten from the hospital tomorrow so she could spar with him. Because he needed to train with living, fighting ninja, of course; his enemies wouldn't be wooden posts or straw dummies.

"Ne, Sasuke-kun, I was thinking…"

He groaned inwardly, thoughts of black ponytails and kunai knives flashing through the trees shattering.

Sakura peered up at him through her eyelashes, suddenly hesitant and shy even though they had gone through the same routine at least a dozen times. "Since we shouldn't be getting any missions for a while," she began coyly, "maybe you and I could-"

"No." He didn't know why she always looked so disappointed when he turned her down; it wasn't as if he had ever actually accepted any of these date offers. To be honest, he didn't treat her much differently than she treated Naruto- except she tended to be considerably more violent. Sasuke honestly couldn't understand what that blonde idiot saw in her- maybe he was a secret masochist. The thought made him shudder.

His teammate had finally stopped following him and now stood awkwardly in the street. "Oh. Well…see you tomorrow, Sasuke-kun!" she called, waving half-heartedly.

That settled it. First thing tomorrow, he was going to collect one Takashi Suten from Konoha Hospital and challenge her to a spar. Or a set of spars. One thing was for sure, her new type of annoying was more preferable than that of the others on his team. Particularly Sakura.

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><p><strong>Ooh, that last part was in Sasuke's 3rd person part of view! I've never done that in this story before, and I like how it turned out...though unfortunately it turned out to be a lot of subtle and not-so-subtle Sakura bashing. Because I really don't like preShippuden!Sakura(does anyone?) and Shippuden!Sakura's not one of my favorites, either.<strong>

**So unless I write their actual sparring session and drag this canon-deviation out a little longer, next comes the Chuunin exams! Which...I don't know what to do for. **

**I'm already kind of messing up the rules by having Team Kakashi as a 4-genin squad. I'd rather not completely spit on canon by letting the four of them enter the Chuunin Exams together. However Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura all have pretty important things happening to them in the exams (Naruto becomes a junior hero, Sasuke gets his curse mark, Sakura starts growing a pair) so I can't exactly substitute any of them with Suten, either. But I really, really don't want to just leave Suten out of the Chuunin Exams altogether if I can help it, because she'll be doing some growing as well.**

**Unfortunately, those are looking like my only three choices. Any ideas?**

**Questions? Comments? Concerns? Please review!**


	24. Chapter 24

**Hello, my happy little readers, who probably aren't very happy with me right now- eep!**

**I regret to inform you that this is not a new chapter, but an Author's Notice. Which I'm aware is against the rules, so…**

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><p>Suten blinked. "Wait, what are we doing here?" she asked, finding herself and Sasuke seated behind the desk of what looked like a news anchor studio. A large screen behind them depicted the cover of their fanfiction 'I Hate Uchiha' (as drawn by SasuTenLuvr), and directly in front of them was a large camera positioned- and rolling, if the little red light was any indication.<p>

Considering that Sasuke and Suten came from a time-nonspecific but still non 21st century world, it was understandable how this could be a little much for them to handle. However, they had gotten used to the strange world that was SasuTenLuvr's imagination, as well as the strange people that inhabited or frequently visited it (among which were an albino with a yellow chirping…thing and a weird laugh, a hunchbacked man who always seemed to be consuming sweets, and a pair of ginger twins who kept challenging people to tell which was which) and there was very little at this point that could surprise them.

Of course, they had thought this before not one, but two men with British accents and two hearts each(two!) showed up in SasuTenLuvr's mind. After a time, the unusual pair fit in very well with their new surroundings, although there was some confusion from the others as to why SasuTenLuvr tended to address them either by their apparent medical title or by numbers. Neither Sasuke nor Suten could see how anyone could spend too long around either of these 'doctors' unless completely necessary- though Suten's private opinion was that they were both fairly attractive.

"But as interesting as that was," the authoress herself cut the synopsis off, "that is in no way what this is about."

"So what is this about?" Sasuke found himself asking, staring at the girl now sipping pink lemonade from a glass.

"Read the script." She pointed at the sheets of paper on the desk that definitely weren't there before, then reached behind her for some lemon to add to her drink.

Not really wanting to do this without knowing what he was getting into, the young Uchiha raised an eyebrow. "Can't you just-"

"Read!"

Already having an idea of what was to come, Suten had picked up the aforementioned script by now. " 'Salutations, readers of I Hate Uchiha. I am pleased to announce that thanks to your ideas (and after some kind of huge and ridiculous brainstorm), I have a very rough outline of how I want the Chuunin Exams Arc to go. And by rough, I mean specific in some places, vague in others. I won't spoil too much, but I can say that Suten will not be participating in the Exams'- wait, what?" she burst out, dropping the paper and staring up at SasuTenLuvr. "What do you mean, I'm not in the Exams?!"

Her creator looked unperturbed, now busily sprinkling pink lemonade powder into the squeezed out lemon half. "Read the rest," she directed.

Irritated, Suten continued. "…'will not be participating in the Exams. Except she will be participating.' So which one is it?"

"Keep reading!"

Seeing as Suten was three seconds away from throttling the authoress or at the least storming offset, Sasuke grudgingly picked up the reading. " 'It's a very crazy idea, and even now I'm not completely sure how I plan to pull it off, but I'm hoping it will be semi-believable and cool, like bowties and fezzes. (Eleven insisted I put that in.)' You could have just ignored that moron," he pointed out. "This isn't his fandom, he doesn't have the right to interfere."

"He's adorkable. Now read."

With a sigh, he read on. " 'You must be wondering why I wrote an Author's Note to tell you this. I didn't. That was the good news portion of this Author's Note. The bad news is not that I need more help, nor that I am giving up on this fic, but that I will be entering a summer hiatus.' " Sasuke froze upon reading those words. A hiatus…a short writing break from which, knowing SasuTenLuvr, there would be no return.

Needing to know what came next, Suten continued the reading. " 'Believe me, it's not my choice, but I will be spending the month of June at my mother's house. And while I have plenty of time to sit around and write at home, I strongly doubt there will be a day in this house where I will be left alone long enough to do so. Therefore, obviously, there will be no new chapters. I may also have difficulty in July, but since I'll be at home most of the time, it should be easier to write. But rest assured! This is not the end of I Hate Uchiha! As stated above, I have a plan for what I want to do with this fic and I don't intend on giving up just yet. And now that I know I can count on you lovely people for ideas and advice, this tale has a greater chance of survival. I actually took the time and imagination to write this out (holed in this room with my mother yelling at me to come down) instead of just leaving you with no word from me for months, because I respect all of you enough to do so.' And then a straight paragraph of sucking up to the readers…"

"That's important!"

"Not to me. 'You guys are so great', etc etc, and…here. 'So therefore, have a great summer, don't do drugs, and don't talk to strangers. Unless, apparently, they have on a suit and sneakers. Or a bowtie and a fez. And one second while I kick Ten and Eleven out of my room because they're being very distracting, which is hard because they're both a foot taller than me… Okay, back! So yeah, not much else to say here. Enjoy yourselves, but not too much. Farewell." Suten reached the end of the page, promptly dropped it back onto the desk and looked up. "Uchiha does have a point," she commented, "if anything we should have been there while you wrote this out, not those British guys."

Sasuke frowned impatiently. "More importantly," he pointed out, resisting the urge to sweatdrop upon noticing how sticky the authoress had gotten from all the pink lemonade and juice, "a hiatus? That's dangerous- you know your 'out of sight, out of mind' policy."

The older girl barely looked up from licking her fingers clean, though she knew her adopted charge had plenty of reason to worry. "I know I've left fics on permanent hiatus before- which isn't actually a hiatus, but I digress," she mused, inspecting her slender digits for traces of pink sugary goop. "I'm fairly confident that since I have a plan and a desire to finish this and quite possibly carry it to Shippuden, there is a very high chance of me picking this up after summer, despite the fact that I'll be heading into senior year…" The authoress found herself shuddering at the idea. Senior year. It was a daunting task to complete in itself without the added pressures of college applications and prom. But on the upside, it was the very last year of high school…

"But that means there's still a chance you won't," Suten deadpanned.

Suten promptly had a batch of SasuTenLuvr's patented pink lemonade powder-lemon juice goop dumped on her head. To her credit, she didn't scream, though she did share her opinion with some loud and very choice words. However, upon noticing that her creator remained unfazed by her complaints, the young kunoichi just sighed and headed offstage to clean up.

"Pink lemonade powder," murmured SasuTenLuvr absently, "has so many uses."


	25. Chapter 25

**See? New chapter, just like I said. I don't know what you all were so worried for! We're starting a new arc this time around- Chuunin Exams! Lots of fun stuff. Except we don't actually get into it, first we have to do some missions.**

**Okay, time to thank my reviewers! And I'm counting all the reviews that I haven't thanked yet, so don't freak out if you see people twice! Or three times!**

** x-psychicfire-x! scarlet tribe! THE NERD KID ON THE BLOCK! SeaDevil! Two more from scarlet tribe! Magns Jnsson(whoa, Iceland!) Ninjafluffy! nemuchan! x-psychicfire-x again! THE NERD KID ON THE BLOCK again! nemuchan123 again! Firewarrior123X! phantom 130 5(of course I do, hi!) Kaito the Shadow Wrya(I came back, I came back, see!) Lolita! And phantom 130 5 again! **

**All of you guys are awesome and great, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise! This chapter is for you, and also for the people who favorited and alerted this story but never review. I won't name pennames, but you know who you are. I'm always glad to hear from my readers.**

**Enough stalling, I own Suten and her family and some crazy ideas and that's it.**

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><p>Hitai-ate- on my head. Weapons holster- strapped to my thigh. Sandals- waiting at the door for me to put them on. I checked myself over in the mirror one last time, before nodding in approval. There were a couple bruises still fading from the impromptu spars Sasuke had been challenging me too, but I didn't mind those too much. Not that I felt I owed him for it, but he had successfully snuck me out of the hospital. Lying on a thin mattress in a white room all day, with nothing to do but 'rest' and nurses checking to make sure you didn't accidentally hurt yourself- it was a torture in and of itself, having so much free time and unable to do anything with it.<p>

"I'm leaving, Kaa-san," I announced as I made my way downstairs, but it turned out to be unnecessary since my mother turned out to be already waiting for me.

"I noticed," she replied jokingly, seated calmly at the table with a steaming cup of tea in hand. "But just a minute: I made something to take with you."

On the table lay a bento box wrapped neatly in navy cloth. Seeing it brought back memories of my not-so-distant Academy days, when she would pack lunch for me before I headed off to school. "What's in it?" I asked curiously, reaching forward to take it by the makeshift handle.

My mom took a sip of tea, then beamed. "They're sweet buns, and some onigiri as well. I thought since you've been working so hard at the shinobi business, I might as well make you a treat every now and then. I made enough for if you'd like to share with your teammates, too."

I couldn't help smiling back at her. This set my day off to a pretty good start. Maybe I didn't have a dad, but my mother was doing a pretty good job by herself.

"I also made some not-as-sweet-buns for that Sasuke, since apparently he doesn't like sweets, but you can always just give him the onigiri."

Moment ruined. My cheeks flushed scarlet at the knowing look she was now giving me. "K-Kaa-san!"

"Now, Suten-chan, the way to any man's heart is through the stomach. So in that case I should start teaching you some recipes-"

Highly embarrassed, I snatched the bento and headed out the door with her laughter ringing in my ears.

When I was out of sight, she sobered almost immediately, her gaze drifting regretfully to that picture of my father once more.

"_Ryuichi…she's growing up so quickly…"_

_**-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-**_

"Isn't Hime-sama a little old to be carrying bento boxes?" was Sasuke's greeting to me as I joined him on the bridge. Sakura would probably be coming any minute, and as usual, it looked like Naruto would be the last genin to arrive. Kakashi-sensei would probably take a few more hours to even realize he had somewhere to be today.

I had a feeling that instead of trying to cut me down, this was Sasuke's way of asking what was in it without sounding like he cared. "Or 'good morning', Kishi-san," I patronized. "That works too."

Just as he had snuck us into the habit of training together, Kakashi-sensei had also somehow snuck us into the habit of calling each other Hime and Kishi- but only when we were basically alone. The problems that would arise from Naruto- or worse, Sakura- finding out what we called each other made that a necessity. Don't get any ridiculous ideas about the implications behind us having 'secret pet names' for each other. If anything they were just leftover codenames from a mission that had stuck with us. Because I was no princess, and Sasuke sure wasn't a knight.

"My kaa-san made me- all of us- snacks for later," I explained in a considerably more subdued tone, trying to tread lightly on the Sasuke-sensitive topic of family. "Sweet buns, with different fillings."

As expected, the Uchiha's face darkened. "I hate sweets."

So it really was true, then. "She made non-sweet filled ones, too. And just onigiri." I didn't know why I was trying to convince him to eat my mother's food. More for me if he didn't want any, right?

His gaze flickered toward me momentarily, surprise flashing through onyx eyes before they became unreadable. "Hn."

I sighed. Well, I'd find out if he wanted any later. We weren't alone anymore.

"Good morning, Sasuke-kun!" called Sakura cheerily, waving to the stoic male as she headed onto the bridge. The subject of her greeting didn't really reply, and though the pinkette looked disappointed as usual, I couldn't help noticing she didn't seem all too surprised either.

For some reason this made me feel a twinge of pity for her. Maybe even fangirls had their limits. "Sakura," I acknowledged with a nod, seeing as she obviously didn't plan to greet me. She only shot a sharp emerald glare in my direction, before decidedly turning away with arms folded.

Any lingering pity I had for her situation quickly evaporated. I could feel Sasuke giving me an odd look, silently questioning why I had even bothered.

I was spared from having to consider answering by the arrival of the last genin member of our team. "Good morning, Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled, in his usual ridiculously energetic mood. "Suten, you too!" he added, upon noticing my presence as well.

I blinked, not expecting him to greet me so energetically. 'He must be really excited today,' I decided, somewhat amused, and waved in returned greeting. At least he, I knew, wouldn't spurn my efforts to be nice for once. Of course, that could have been just because he was too stupid to do otherwise.

Naturally, Sasuke didn't get quite so warm a greeting, and he didn't bother to give one either. The two boys glowered darkly at each other before hmphing and directing their gazes elsewhere. I shook my head at their behavior. Ever since we'd gotten back from Wave Country, they'd been acting like less like shinobi with a respectable rivalry and more like Academy students having a fight. And considering our team's concept of working together was already basically nonexistent…

All I could do was hope the situation wouldn't get any worse- I had more pressing things to worry about. For instance, what to do with the 2 to 4 hours that probably remained before Kakashi's arrival? There wasn't anyone here I could strike up a conversation with- at least, not with the others within earshot- and with the current hostile mood I wasn't about to ask anyone to spar, either. Resigning myself to spending an unknown amount of time completely bored(and noticing my teammates seemed to have reached similar conclusions) I started picking out a spot on the fence. I didn't really feel like being antisocial and heading across or to the ends of the bridge, so that meant I'd have to stand next to someone. So far Naruto was on the left and Sasuke on the right, with Sakura between as an unwilling divider. Let's see… If I tried to wait anywhere next to Sasuke, I knew Sakura would get upset, and if I tried to squeeze in between Naruto and Sakura, Naruto would get upset too. With a sigh, I walked over and perched myself on the railing, seated to the blonde's left. He looked considerably surprised that I'd chosen to sit next to him, but grinned at me and settled down to wait. Everyone was happy.

No, everyone was not happy, which became clear as I quickly noticed a certain Uchiha outright glaring in my general direction. What did I do now? When I realized his wrath was directed mainly at Naruto, my confusion deepened. I knew they were pretty hostile towards each other now, but the team idiot hadn't done anything yet today- why was Sasuke so angry with him?

Hmm. Maybe he was just in an overall bad mood today.

_**-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-**_

A ridiculous amount of time later found the four of us nodding off against the wooden railing of the bridge- with myself especially in serious danger of falling off altogether, considering I was still sitting on the railing. Would it kill our sensei to come on time for once? For that matter, why did he bother setting a time for us to meet him if he never planned on showing up at said time?

"Good morning, everyone."

At the sudden sound of Kakashi's voice I snapped fully awake, immediately flailing my arms to keep from toppling backwards into the river. Unfortunately, it looked like I would have a long, cold, and humiliated swim to the riverbank, when I felt myself being pulled roughly back onto the bridge and into something else. Once my brain processed that I was not, in fact, going to fall, it recognized the young avenger who I had unceremoniously smashed into.

He was fairly quick to push me away upon realizing that I was alright, jamming fists into the pockets of his white shorts and not looking at me. "Be more careful," he warned. "It's not my job to save you anymore, baka."

'So why did you?' came to mind almost immediately. Why hadn't he just let me fall? Doubtless he would have enjoyed it. The idea of actually asking him crossed my mind, but I quickly decided against it, only in part because I knew I wouldn't get an answer.

"Hey, hey, Kakashi-sensei!"

Naruto looked overeager as usual. "We've only been doing easy missions, right? Isn't there a mission where I can play a more active role, something that's more…exciting?" As he kept talking, he pumped himself up more and more until it almost looked like he was in flames. "Something that makes my 'nindo'… you know, and my heart like this?!"

Kakashi took a step back from him, holding his hands up in an attempt to calm the blonde down. "Okay, okay, okay. I see what you're trying to get at," he confirmed, although it really sounded more like he was just trying to get Naruto to shut up.

From the look on his face, I at first thought Naruto had gotten this impression as well, but then he turned to glower at his Uchiha rival. It almost looked like he was getting ready to challenge him to a fight. Seriously, what was his problem?

"I want to say something like that!" the blonde burst out suddenly, clenching his fists and looking ridiculously determined again. Had he been daydreaming again? He seemed to do that a lot.

Our sensei barely raised an eyebrow at his antics. "Naruto, what are you doing? We have a mission."

This only seemed to excite him more. "Roger!"

"You're noisy!"

_**-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-**_

**Mission One: Weeding Ms. Suzuki's Front Lawn**

This first 'mission' only cemented my belief that most D rank mission were nothing short of chores- specifically because weeding was one of the chores my mother asked me to do every now and then. An upside to this was that I had plenty of experience and knew how to weed properly, and therefore I could let my thoughts wander while my body went on autopilot. I hadn't had breakfast today, something I found myself regretting as my stomach whined in protest. Maybe I should have some of the onigri from the bento box. It would have been a pain to keep carrying the bento around all day(it had nothing to do with Sasuke saying I was too old to do so), so I sealed it into a spare scroll that I had on hand and stowed the scroll in my weapons pouch. I was getting sort of proficient with sealing scrolls, at least with little things like bento boxes.

And then a weed hit me in the shoulder.

It was only a slight sting, so I barely registered anything had happened, but eventually it occurred to me that I really had been hit with a weed. Not a dandelion, either, when I looked down- it looked like a strand of crabgrass. With a small shrug, I just returned to my own patch of weeds. Someone had probably just gotten overzealous with the gardening and tossed it at me by accident, because I really didn't want to think anyone would be stupid enough to try throwing weeds. I was in a pretty okay mood today, after all, and-

My uncaring outlook dissolved when another weed smacked me in the face.

So someone was aiming for me after all. Automatically I looked over my shoulder at Naruto, since obviously he would be the first I would suspect to do something this immature, but he seemed to be busy sizing up his own large patch of vegetation near our client's house. Besides, I realized, he didn't have anything against me, but against Sasuke- so unless his aim sucked that badly, he would be hitting Sasuke, not me. The avenger himself wouldn't resort to something this petty, and we seemed to have some sort of mutual understanding going on at the moment. So that left…

I looked at Sakura. Sakura looked at me. I raised an eyebrow at her. She shot me a glare, then went back to weeding with an almost pretentious air. Frowning, I opened my mouth to ask what her issue was, but Ms Suzuki came out of the house to see how we were doing, so I decided to let it go.

Our client, Ms Suzuki was a very large, no-nonsense looking woman wearing a clean white apron, with dull brown hair tied out of her face. I couldn't help feeling sorry for her husband- if she had one, which I doubted. "Hey, you!" she shouted, storming over to where Naruto stood proudly in front of a pile of greenage as tall as he was.

Naruto, unfortunately, didn't notice just how menacing she looked, particularly at that moment. "Oh, miss, I finished pulling out all the weeds!" he announced- then paused upon noticing the look on her face. "Eh? What's wrong?"

"Those aren't weeds," Ms Suzuki told him darkly. Her voice increased in volume as she informed the blonde of his very costly mistake. "Those are special herbs I've been cultivating, and you destroyed them!"

None of us watching dared interfere with the following colossal beat down Naruto received. Ms Suzuki was only a civilian, but from the looks of it she could take down a couple skinny twelve and thirteen year olds with no problem. Naruto could take this one for the team…again…

**Mission Two: Clearing Trash from the River**

This wasn't so bad, I thought to myself, enjoying the sensation of cool sparkling water rushing past my knees. For this all we had to do was pluck aluminum cans and plastic wrappers from the riverbed. On the bank, Kakashi lazed in the shade with his favorite literature in hand. This mission could almost be considered relaxing and enjoyable, if only because of the scenery and general ambiance. I stopped picking trash for a moment, turning my face to the bright sun to feel its warmth on my skin.

"I didn't figure you for a slacker, Takashi."

Sasuke stared at me with one dark brow raised. Again I was able to decipher the actual meaning behind his casual insults. Maybe I was learning to understand Sasukese, or whatever you would call his unique language. "I'm taking a break," I informed him. "It's nice out today, if you hadn't noticed."

He didn't look entirely convinced, but I thought his disapproving look diminished somewhat as a soft breeze hit us. "Hn."

Was that his way of…agreeing with me? Or did he just think I was an idiot? Sasuke's grunting tended to be near impossible to translate. He seemed to be able to make non-words mean anything and everything.

"I just hope Naruto doesn't mess up again," I muttered to myself, bending over to pick up more trash. I didn't notice Sasuke silently fume when he heard my comment, and even if I had, I wouldn't know why.

There was a yell and a loud splash. Startled, I looked back to see- big surprise- Naruto screaming as he was carried away by the current. I ran to help him, but Sasuke ran faster, pulling a long spool of wire out of his weapons pocket although he didn't look particularly happy to be saving the blonde. Before I reached either of them, both boys were sent plummeting off the edge of the waterfall. A jolt of something akin to fear shot through me and I forced myself to run faster, but breathed a sigh of relief when I saw Sasuke dangling only a few feet below, clinging to his wire with one hand and Naruto's foot with the other. "Usuratonkachi," he muttered, just barely loud enough to be heard over the rushing water.

I breathed a sigh of relief, shaking my head in exasperation now that the danger was past. "Jeez, was it really that much to hope for?"

**Mission Three: Walking the Pet Shelter's Dogs**

Dogs were in no way my favorite animal: in fact, I considered myself more of a cat person, or a no-pets-at-all person. But I did have to admit that the fluffy golden-haired retriever puppy I had decided to walk was pretty cute, with his floppy ears and his high-pitched bark. He did have an annoying habit of trying to rush off and explore the forest, running after squirrels and rolling in the grass. I had even caught him chewing on a leaf once.

He reminded me a lot of Naruto.

Mine was the only puppy, and Sasuke's wiener dog and Sakura's white terrier behaved a lot better. As a matter of fact, they almost seemed to look at my puppy with disdain, batting him away when he ran up to play with them. As for Naruto…well, Naruto had picked this large and brutish looking hound that honestly looked like he didn't care about anything, or even think about anything. The dog was as tall as Naruto, if not taller, and I already knew from a look at the unlikely pair that this mission would also go wrong somehow.

I felt a sharp tug at the leash and looked down, sighing as I found the pup straining to get to Sasuke. When he wasn't charging at harmless forest creatures or barking up random trees, he was bothering my teammate. He seemed determined to get the avenger's attention for some reason, which would have been funny if I didn't have to keep constant watch on him so I didn't hear "Takashi, come get your stupid dog" or "I swear you trained him to do this".

"Agh! Stupid mutt!"

Or that. I couldn't help biting back a snicker as the puppy sank his teeth into Sasuke's sandal and stubbornly hung on despite the boy's attempts to shake him off. Eventually he reached down and pulled the dog off his shoe, holding him out at arm's length and fixing him with a glare. Clearly glad to be getting the attention he craved, the golden retriever pup just barked happily, wagging his tail. Sasuke's glare intensified. If looks could kill, my furry charge would have been canine barbecue. "Tch."

"If he likes you that much, maybe we should switch," I couldn't resist suggesting in a teasing manner. "Or better yet, you can go ahead and adopt him from the shelter."

Seeing that his glare had no effect, the ravenette scoffed and dropped the puppy, allowing him to scurry back to me. "They can keep that stupid dog," he grumbled, checking his sandal for tiny tooth marks or drool and glaring as he found both.

"H-hey, don't go that way!" came the other stupid blonde's panicked voice. "No, come on!" Apparently his big, dull looking dog had noticed a nearby mine field and decided there was as good as any to go for a walk. I could tell Naruto was quickly regretting his decision to pick the biggest dog as he tried desperately and fruitlessly to pull the hound in another direction. Of course, instead of trying to bail him out, Sakura, Sasuke and I stood and watched.

"I knew he would mess this up somehow," I commented.

"Baka," Sasuke added.

"That's what happens for choosing the big dog," Sakura sighed.

If Naruto was smart, he would have just let go of the leash while there was still time. But if he was smart, he wouldn't be Naruto, and whether he was afraid of failing the mission or he just really wanted to show up Sasuke, he ended up being dragged through a large hole in the metal fence and straight into the mine field.

When the dust from the numerous explosions cleared, I couldn't figure out how the dog had remained unscathed, but the boy ended up burnt, smoking, and sooty from head to toe.

Maybe the blonde was just overall unlucky.

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><p><strong>I meant to add the rest of the episode, but with all the extra tidbits I put in, this is already past 3000 words. Well, would you look at that: Sasuke and Suten both prefer cats over dogs, although if either of them had been born an Inuzuka, that might not be the case. Also Sasuke seems to enjoy playing the hero- but we all knew that. <strong>

**But why does Sasuke seem to be so agitated with Naruto? I mean more than normal. Now that might be a question that could only be answered via Sasuke's POV. Maybe I'll try to write the whole next chapter that way- what do you think?**

**Questions? Comments? Concerns? Please review!**


	26. Chapter 26

**This took a little longer than it should have, but I am unable to shake my tendency to procrastinate -_- Plus quite a bit of stuff has been happening in my personal life. So let's see...**

**First things first, shout-out to my reviewers: XxanimeaddictxX! Blackenflames(your review made me laugh)! x-psychicfire-x(oh, I definitely agree)! Lex(don't send the rats)! THE NERD KID ON THE BLOCK! A guest who wanted me to update soon! Annd Meatbun Attack!**

**You all seemed to like the idea, so I rolled up my metaphorical sleeves and wrote this whole chapter in Sasuke's first person POV. I'm not sure how accurate my pre-Shippuuden Sasuke voice is, however, so bear with me.**

**I only own Suten and that's mostly it! Onwards!**

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><p>"This is what you get for being reckless."<p>

Sakura was scolding Naruto again. After getting himself dragged into the minefield, we ended up having to carry him back to the village. By we, I meant myself and Sakura supporting the idiot's weight, while Suten got to walk behind us and Kakashi pretended to supervise. If there was fairness in this situation, I failed to see it. At least the aforementioned pinkette was actually capable of carrying him. I couldn't help thinking I would have preferred if Suten had been the one supporting him with me.

Because she's more tolerable company. But only slightly.

I shook my head. "You're a guy that needs help all the time," I told Naruto, a smirk working its way onto my face. Surprisingly I found I wasn't trying to be cruel, just making fun of him. Maybe I was getting a little used to these idiots.

The blonde idiot somehow pulled himself off our shoulders, looking ready to charge at me. "Sasuke..!"

Unfazed, I turned to begin the walk home. If he did try to make an attack, stopping him would be child's play. Almost always, however someone would unnecessarily stop him first. Today it was Sakura, as I could hear from behind me. Now that the missions were over, Suten could train with me today.

Kakashi sighed. "The teamwork has been out of order lately…"

"Yeah!" Naruto agreed, glaring daggers at me. "And you're the one who disrupts our teamwork, Sasuke! You always stick your nose into everything!"

"That's you, usuratonkachi," I corrected. His constantly blaming me for everything that went wrong on this team was getting annoying. "If you don't want to owe me anything..." I turned and looked him dead in the eye. "Become stronger than me."

There. That challenge should keep the idiot busy for a long while. Obviously there was no way he could even reach, much less surpass my level of strength, but…it would be interesting to see him try.

A sudden thought occurred to me. Was this what Itachi had been thinking when he..?

Itachi. Just the thought of that man made my blood boil. There were people so much stronger than me outside this place, but the village just kept me doing these stupid missions. While he roamed free and unpunished, I was stuck doing chores I was so much better than. It frustrated me to no end.

Kakashi's voice broke into my dark thoughts. "Now then… Shall we call it quits for today? I have to go submit the mission report now."

"Then I'm going to train." I turned towards the training fields, mood still soured by the thought of my comparative weakness. "Takashi, let's go."

"Don't give me orders," she retorted, but I already knew she would come with me. The little attitude she tended to get at times was pretty cute, though.

Not cute. Amusing. It was just a quirk of hers that I found interesting. Like the way she scrunched her nose sometimes. Which also was not cute. Hn.

More importantly, training. Getting stronger. Right.

"Just a second, though…I never got to share the snacks…" She stopped and looked back at the other two, pulling the scroll out of her weapons pouch. "I know Sakura doesn't want any, but Naruto probably will, so I'll just give him a few and then if it's so important, we can go train."

Automatically a wave of anger swept through me. "Leave him. It's not your job to feed that idiot," I reminded her sharply. Why was she so interested in him recently, anyway?

She stared at me, clearly startled by my sudden hostility. "I never said it was my job," she told me, frowning. "I'm just trying to be nice for once to a teammate of mine."

"Why do you have to act 'nice' to that dobe?"

Suten narrowed her eyes, folding her arms. "What is with you? You've been so against him lately." She shook her head in exasperation. "Mataku… if I didn't know any better, Uchiha, I'd say you were jealous of him or something."

Jealous?

I froze momentarily, shocked into silence. Jealous? Jealous of Uzumaki Naruto, the loser, the dead-last, Konoha's No. 1 Knucklehead Ninja? "Tch. Like I would be jealous of him of all people," I scoffed, jamming my fists into the pockets of my shorts and trying to act as if her comment hadn't affected me. Which it hadn't, because I couldn't possibly be jealous of someone like that guy. If anything, he was obviously jealous of me! There was nothing he had that I wanted.

'Other than Suten's attention,' whispered a little voice in the back of my mind.

Automatically I squashed that thought viciously. I didn't want her attention! And even if I did, I obviously already had it. There was no way she liked Naruto more than me, that ramen-loving, immature, obnoxious, idiotic moron...

"Ne, Sasuke-kun, wait!"

Clearly not noticing my increasingly foul mood, Sakura had approached me again. "Ne, um, since you always train with Takashi nowadays and she's busy with Naruto, how does strengthening our teamwork sound?"

Busy with Naruto? My gaze immediately shifted to past my pink-haired teammate, where Suten had blatantly ignored me- as always- and was giving her sweet buns to a clearly eager Naruto. The rage that had been slowly building in pressure inside me started boiling over when I saw the two of them together, looking so happy.

"Sasuke-kun..?"

I needed an outlet, and one had just reintroduced herself to me. "You're as bad as Naruto," I snapped, fixing her with a burning glare. "If you have time to bother me, go practice some jutsu. To be honest, your skill level is even lower than Naruto's. Takashi, I said let's go!"

Clearly irritated with me, she straightened. "I don't have to listen to you," she reminded me, but she still made her way to my side, and we began walking towards the training field. I was aware of Naruto yelling after me for being a 'jerk to women' before trying to coax Sakura to come train with him instead.

_**"Mine is indeed a tormented existence. Filled with torment. And girls."**_

"Look, can we not spar today?" Suten questioned after we had gotten a good distance away. "Those may have been boring D-rank missions, but after all that I wanted to relax," she confessed.

Although I really wanted to get some of my pent up anger out, she did have a point. It wasn't late yet and the missions had been frustratingly easy, but if Suten hadn't been here I might have just headed home myself. "Fine," I replied at last. "If you don't want to spar, then what?"

She froze and stared at me wide eyed. "W-what…you mean, you want to come with me..?"

…that hadn't been what she had meant. And now I thought about it, why would it be? What if she had wanted to eat somewhere, or go home? If I went with her, it would look like we were… "Tch. Forget it, if it's such a bad idea…"

"No, it's just…" It looked like she was struggling to explain. "Usually unless we're training or on missions, we don't… fine, look, if you really want to…"

My eyes widened slightly as I realized what she might be thinking. "Don't take this the wrong way," I corrected her sharply, feeling heat rising to my cheeks. "I'm not asking you on a …a date or anything stupid like that."

"No! No, of course not …"

"Good…just making sure…"

"Right…"

"Hn…"

And with that conversation, a long and awkward silence ensued between us…no, her and me. Suten and Sasuke. Not us. There was no us.

In order to have something to do, Suten started rummaging through her weapons pocket- and stopped. A confused expression spread across her face. "Huh?" I stared at her as she began pulling everything out of the pocket and then patting herself down, muttering under her breath. Finally she sighed, putting a hand to her forehead just beneath the hitai-ate. "Great."

"What's so 'great'?"

She shot me a look. "Because you couldn't wait a few seconds, I forgot the scroll that had my bento in it with Naruto."

…of course she had. My eyes narrowed. "I'll get it," I offered. "Stay here." It sounded like I was trying to help, but really I just didn't want her alone with that idiot.

But it could never be that easy with her. "Really?" she asked in irritation, sticking a hand stubbornly on her hip. "I'm more than capable of getting my own bento, Kishi."

"I'm aware of that, Hime," I responded impatiently. "Now stay here and let me get it." I turned to walk back, then changed my mind and pulled myself over the fence, walking on the still forested side of the village. I couldn't wait to see the look on that idiot's face when I jumped down in front of him. He'd probably eaten all of her food already. The thought made me walk faster.

"Fine. If it's so important that you get my bento box, I'll just have to come with you," Suten replied simply from at my side, keeping up with me easily. A surge of irritation shot through me at how easily she'd ignored me, but I forcibly pushed it aside.

**_"I am doomed to forever sound like an attractive young man with a wide range of emotions."_**

Hadn't we returned to about where we had left Naruto? That idiot must have run off somewhere… It didn't matter- if he was still in the area, I would hear him before I saw him.

"Hey! If you don't let go of him, you're going to get it from me, baka!"

And there he was- apparently starting trouble as well, the moron. Suten had heard as well, and had already run ahead to scale a tree so that she could see what was going on over the fence. With a sigh, I found myself following suit.

Naruto had definitely gotten into trouble again, and with him he had managed to drag Sakura and three kids that clearly had just entered the Academy. I resisted the urge to shake my head upon noticing the kids all sported green goggles on their foreheads. What stupid trend had that idiot started now?

More importantly, across from Naruto stood some stranger in a black jumpsuit, holding one of the kids off the ground by his ridiculously long scarf. From what I could see of his hitai-ate, he didn't seem to be from around here, either. "I hate short people anyway," he said. "And you're so impertinent for someone younger than me. It makes me want to break you."

My fists clenched. Naruto really had gotten himself in deep- this guy was dangerous. Quickly I jumped down from the tree and began hunting around on the ground, ignoring Suten's hissed demands to know what I was doing. If I seriously hurt him now, there would be trouble- therefore…

"I'm not going to be responsible for what you're doing," I heard an unfamiliar female voice say. That must have been the girl standing by not doing anything. Her pretending to be neutral annoyed me. I found what I was looking for and headed back up the tree.

Her friend didn't seem to care. "After this short kid, the short kid over there is next," he announced, drawing back his fist to punch the kid in the face.

I wasted no time in pitching one of the stones I'd collected at his hand.

It hit dead center with a satisfying crack, even managing to draw blood. He dropped the kid automatically, clutching his hand with a pained expression. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Suten settling down on the tree branch next to me with arms folded, wanting to be part of the action. "You're a long way from home, and you're out of your league," I told the stranger simply.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura squealed, clearly glad to see me. Those in the orange and black jumpsuits didn't look as happy.

"I'm here, too," Suten reminded, lifting a hand. "And I don't appreciate being overlooked because of him."

"Just more kids to tick me off," grumbled the unnamed stranger, still massaging his hand.

I responded by closing my fist and allowing my chakra to crush the second stone I had collected into dust. Of course, from an outsider's perspective, it looked as if I was doing this from sheer strength, which made me look even more impressive than I already was. "Get lost."

All of the girls present started fawning over how cool I was- no, all but one, I mentally corrected, glancing beside me to find Suten looking unimpressed as usual. Of course the one girl I wanted to look at me with that unmistakable awe…

"Oi, come down, brat." The stranger hadn't left, now deciding to challenge me in order to save his pride. "I hate kids like you the most- think you're so clever."

"If I know I'm clever," Suten questioned, folding her arms, "will that make you hate me more?"

He leered at her, sliding something big and wrapped in bandages off his shoulder. "Don't worry that you're being left out- I'll take out you and your boyfriend together."

I tuned out Sakura's cries of indignant denial, clenching my fists and trying to look unaffected by this. Why did everyone think we were dating? We could stand each other now, fine, but there was a low chance we were anything more than comrades. And even then…

More importantly, the sight of whatever he had pulled out had his friend in the lavender dress worried. "O-oi! You're going to use Karasu for this?" she asked nervously, but still didn't make any moves to stop him. Was this 'Karasu' some sort of secret weapon? If it was, all it meant was that I could stop throwing stones like an Academy student and use real weapons to defend myself. My hand crept back to my weapons pouch, waiting for him to make a move.

"Kankuro. Stop."

Somehow another boy with messy red hair had appeared, standing under the branch just above me. "You're a disgrace to our village."

Even though the new boy was clearly younger than him, the guy in the black jumpsuit looked nervous. "G-Gaara…"

I narrowed my eyes, realizing the greater danger. When did this guy appear next to me? He'd been as quiet as Kakashi. A quick glance at Suten's shocked face revealed that she hadn't noticed him either. The new boy's unreadable gaze drifted in my direction, apparently studying me. I did my best to appear cool yet intimidating, though I only posed a threat if he did. Whoever this guy was, I wanted to know what I was getting into before I started a fight with him. Particularly since Suten remained seated next to me, and I didn't want to take the chance of her getting hurt.

* * *

><p><strong>So now the Chuunin Exam arc starts to kick in! And we've gotten a peek into Sasuke's mind out of it, too. It seems that yes, he is more jealous than he will admit to himself. Spoiler alert: I'm considering at some point having Suten get involved with another guy, just to see how he reacts.<strong>

**Sasuke: ...you what. No. That's not going to happen.**

**You heard nothing, and I guaranteed nothing.**

**Fun fact: in Japan, when you hold up a pinky, you are referring to a girlfriend, mistress or female love interest. When you hold up a thumb, you are referring to a boyfriend, lover or male love interest. I'm not sure how the thumb thing would work, though... I mean, how do you hold it? Because if you stick it straight up with your fingers pointing sideways, it looks like a thumbs up sign. Maybe you have to stick it up with your fingers pointing up?**

**Also, instead of my usual -_-.-_- linebreaks I had quotes. F**inish the quotes in a review and you get an e-cookie, but don't Google it or the cookie is revoked. And I will know if you Googled it. Somehow. ****

****Questions? Comments? Concerns? Please review!****


	27. Chapter 27

**Wow, this took a long time to crank out. Sorry about that. Anyway, it's my birthday on the 12th, so for my birthday, have an update! I'm not really sure I'm supposed to give _you_ things for _my _birthday, but I feel like it.**

**The reason it took so long was because I was getting into the awesome of the anime that is Fairy Tail. And I'm sure you can all guess who my favorite male character is. If not, I'm working on a series of humorous oneshots, involving the characters acting out well-known children's stories. Fairy Tales, I'll call it. Keep a lookout for whenever I post the first chapter.**

**Let's thank my lovely reviewers: The Nerd Kid On The Block(now that is an idea)! Of Anime and Manga! XxanimeaddictxX(half an E-cookie for you)! SonomiTakashia! Guest who knows it's been a while! blackenflames! Sparkles of Youthfulness! XxCupcakeAssassinxX! phantom130 5 who went back and reviewed other chapters! Sukki18(maybe that's their weird way of trying to get dates XD) And Animeluver717!**

**Anyway, on to the newest chapter. Suten wants Gaara to leave, and we start to figure out what I meant chapters ago when I said 'Suten will not be in the Chuunin Exams...except she will be'. **

**I own Suten and that is all, now enjoy!**

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><p><strong>Back to Suten's POV<strong>

"Why do you think," the new boy, Gaara, asked slowly, "we came all the way to Konoha?"

I wasn't completely sure why, but this guy gave me the creeps. He didn't look any older than me, but I could just feel this chilling aura of danger emanating from him. I scooted a little further away from him on the branch, not noticing the look Sasuke shot me.

The boy with the face-paint kept trying to weakly argue his case. "Listen, Gaara, these guys started it-"

"Shut up," he cut off, and I paled at the aura seeming to flare warningly. "Or I'll kill you." **(1)**

My eyes widened in terror. This 'Gaara' was not playing around- I could tell he wasn't bluffing. _This guy…just who is he?_

Apparently Face Paint Boy knew he wasn't kidding either, because he immediately backed down. "I was at fault," he was quick to apologize. "I'm sorry. I'm really sorry." He looked ready to get on his hands and knees and beg forgiveness. I wouldn't question it if he did, either- I'd only been around Gaara for a couple minutes and I already wanted to leave.

It took me a moment to realize that he was looking at us again. I squared my shoulders and tried to look undaunted, but it was difficult with his eyes boring into me. They were an interesting pale green, rimmed with black like a tanuki, but perhaps the scariest thing about him. The eyes were the windows to the soul, after all.

"Excuse their behavior," he said, before dissolving into sand. Startled, I jumped to my feet and watched him reform on the ground below. _Is that how he got up here undetected? _"Let's go. We didn't come here to fool around."

Oh, good. The sooner they left, the sooner I could relax.

"Wait a second!"

…screw you, Sakura.

"Judging from your hitai-ate, you're ninja from Sunagakure, right?"

Suna? Now I thought about it, their hitai-ate did have Suna's hourglass symbol.

Sakura seemed to think now was the time to show off how well she'd been paying attention in those boring International Affairs classes. "The Fire Country and Wind Country do have an alliance, but a treaty prevents ninja from entering other's countries without permission." She took a step forward, probably trying to look like she meant business as they turned back around. "State your purpose! According to your reasons, I-"

"What you're looking for is closer than you think. You really don't know anything, do you?" questioned the girl in the lavender dress. Now that she felt out of danger, she acted more condescending. "Here- this is a traffic pass. As you guessed, we're genin from Sunagakure in the Wind Country. We came to this village to take the Chuunin Exams."

Oh, the Chuunin Exams. That was the set of tests required to become a chuunin, the next rank up from being a rookie genin. I thought for a minute as I jumped down from the tree. Maybe I'd take it this year- my mother would be so proud of me if I passed. My father would be, too. That and we would finally get to stop taking stupid D-rank missions.

The Suna genin seemed to be leaving again, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Hey, you there."

…screw you too, Sasuke.

"What's your name?" he asked, having jumped down from the tree as well.

Suddenly blushing and coy, the girl with the purple dress turned around. "M-me?" she asked hopefully.

I shot her a glower. "He meant the guy with the gourd on his back," I elaborated, none too nicely. It looked like even girls from other countries weren't immune to his charms. Th-That is, what charms? He didn't have any charms, he was Uchiha Sasuke. He was the polar opposite of charm.

Sasuke gave me a raised eyebrow, but nodded nonetheless. "Right, him."

"Sabaku no Gaara," the boy replied finally, turning to look at him. "I'm interested in you as well. Your name?" I then noticed that under his bright red hair, he had the kanji for love tattooed on one side of his forehead. That didn't suit his intimidating image at all.

Beside me, my teammate was smirking as he gave his own name. "Uchiha Sasuke."

An unspoken covenant seemed to pass between the two stoic genin. I realized that when they met like this again, it would be to fight.

The cool moment was effectively ruined by our friendly neighborhood moron. "Hey, I bet you're dying to hear about me!"

"I couldn't care less," Gaara responded cooly. On an unspoken signal, he and his team turned and jumped away into the trees.

Immediately I relaxed, resting my hands on my hips. Of course I hadn't tried to give my name- I didn't want him interested in me at all. "Jeez…A guy like that is going to be in the Chuunin Exams?" I asked, staring in the direction he had gone. If that was the case, I could wait to try next year.

"That's how it looks," Sasuke responded, but he didn't look concerned at all. On the contrary, his onyx eyes were glowing with anticipation. He had found a new challenge.

I shook my head. "Don't get all excited. We don't even know how to enroll."

"Gaah! Sasuke! I'm not going to lose to you!"

Apparently Naruto had taken not earning Gaara's interest pretty badly. That idiot.

"What are you talking about all of a sudden?"

_**-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-**_

**(3****rd**** Person POV)**

"There is, however, another issue."

Kakashi turned back to the Hokage upon hearing these words, already knowing what was to come. "Oh? What is it?" he asked, hoping to be wrong.

"You're well aware of what it is," the Sandaime retorted. "The Chuunin Exams admit only three man squads. To recommend all four of your current students for the Exams is unacceptable."

Beneath his mask, the Copy Nin frowned. "Yes, I was afraid you'd say that," he admitted. Someone was going to be extremely upset, and considering how bratty each of his genin were, he shuddered to think who. "However, Sandaime…as their teacher, I can safely say that all of my students are able to complete in the Exams. By themselves, they each have their own flaws- but when they work together as a team, I have seen that they are a force to be reckoned with. If for these Exams you could make an exception-"

"Out of the question!" the old man cut off. "The Chuunin Exams are made for genin teams of three- no fewer and certainly no more. To allow all members of your four-man squad to enter would be to allow an unfair advantage, no matter how slight, over the other teams. And that is something the other participating nations will not stand for." He stopped and sighed. This was the only squad Kakashi had ever passed, and he had clearly grown attached to all of them. All of this year's rookie genin were promising, but they couldn't all compete. "If I could allow your entire team I would, Kakashi. But it's against the rules. I will provide you with three Exam application forms. You will have to choose one of your genin to be held back from this year's exam."

_**-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-**_

By the time the next day had rolled around, the genin team from Suna had slipped to the back of my mind. After all, it wasn't as if that creepy Gaara was losing sleep over me. He had other things, like the Chuunin Exams, to worry about, and I had things to worry about to. For example…

"Hey, hey, hey! Why does he always make us wait when he's the one who called us up?"

For example Kakashi-sensei's unnatural tardiness, I thought as I continued waiting on the bridge with my team- like I had for three hours already. How was the man allowed to become a shinobi, much less a jonin, with such a horrible sense of timing? I couldn't even see him showing up on time to class- he'd make it in time for lunch break, then show up again at the end of the day.

Sakura was in a foul mood. "How is he going to compensate a girl," she raged, "who woke up late and had to give up blow-drying her hair?" Her cherry blossom pink hair did seem a little wavier than usual, but I was pretty sure no one would have really noticed if she hadn't said anything. Except me, possibly, but I was a girl.

Naruto nodded, always ready to agree with his ill-founded crush. "I woke up late, too, so I couldn't wash my face or brush my teeth!" he declared. Of course, instead of the…approval?... he had expected, the idiot blonde managed to earn only disgusted reactions from both females present.

"That's so gross…"

"I didn't need to know that…"

Our constantly tardy sensei took that moment to finally show up, poofing into existence squatted atop one of the pillars that made up the bridge. "Morning, ladies and gentlemen. I got lost on the path of life today…"

My eye twitched slightly. Couldn't he at least come up with something believable, instead of telling us whatever nonsense popped into his head?

He jumped down to stand in front of us amidst Naruto and Sakura calling out his stupid lie, suddenly seeming more serious. "I'll get to the point," he told us. "I've recommended you for the Chuunin Exams, so… Here, take these applications."

…well, that was easy.

"However, the recommendation does not force you to take it. You can decide if you want to take it or not-"

"Yes! I love you, Kakashi-sensei!"

Kakashi was effectively cut off by a mass of bright orange excitement attaching itself to his neck. "Cut it out, get off me!" he spluttered, peeling Naruto off with considerable effort. "Only those who wish to take it are to sign the applications. Five days from now, get to the Academy by 3 PM and go to room 301. That is all."

I stepped forward to take my application- I know I was against meeting Gaara there, but I might as well mull it over, after all- and stopped. "Um… Kakashi-sensei," I began, feeling as if I already knew what I was going to hear. "There are only three applications."

Everyone seemed to pause, as if they had only just realized this. But I could tell Kakashi knew better. "Well, the Hokage only gives three to each jonin instructor," he said, as if it were obvious.

That made sense, since there were usually three-man-squads, but… I clenched my fists. "This squad has four genin, though. The Hokage knows that."

"Yes. But all the same, I can only give out three applications."

Maybe I hadn't sure about taking the Exams this year because of Gaara, but I thought I'd at least have a choice. A sudden, wild thought occurred to me- maybe one of my teammates would give me one. They could let me enter and wait to take the Exams next time around. But as I looked around at their faces, showing varying amounts of sympathy yet resolution, I quickly realized there was no way that would happen. They all wanted something too badly from the Chuunin Exams to give it up to me. Naruto wouldn't be able to wait another second in taking the next step to his Hokage dream. Sasuke wanted to fight Gaara and become more powerful in order to fulfill his goal. Even Sakura, who looked pretty uncertain about entering, had her Sasuke-involved dream that she would let no one stand in the way of. And me? Was what I wanted worth fighting for, to this extent?

Even still… Even still…

"That's…that's okay," I responded after a few moments of silence. "I didn't really want to take the Exams this year anyway. And besides, now I'll be able to take a break from the ninja business and…and help my mother. I've been sort of neglecting her, I'm sure she'll be glad to have me around the house, and…and…" I swallowed hard, trying my best to keep my shaky uncaring facade. "I-I should probably get home. Later." I turned and began to run.

_**-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-**_

So I hadn't exactly lied. I did plan on going home at some point today, I just had an important stop to make first.

I shoved the door open, pulling myself into the room. "Hokage-sama- ack!"

The guard I had just managed to dodge on the way up had caught up with me. "My apologies, Hokage-sama," he stated with a bow, keeping me in a chokehold. "She slipped through my defenses. I'll escort her outside-"

"That's not necessary. You are dismissed." Though confused, the shinobi bowed himself out. The head of our village looked at me from his desk. "You're on Kakashi's squad," he said finally. "Suten, right? I have a feeling I know why you want to see me."

I nodded hastily, wanting to get to the point. "Yes, sir. Kakashi-sensei…you gave him only three application forms?"

"Yes. And since you're here, I assume you didn't receive one."

The reminder stung, but I kept going. "But you know that we're a four-genin squad! Why would you only give him three? I mean, sure, we all clearly have problems, but in the end we're a team and we all deserve to take the Exams!"

The Hokage stared at me, expression still unreadable. "Your sensei made the same argument to me earlier," he told me at last, his tone ambiguously.

Kakashi-sensei had actually vouched for us? "He…did?"

"Yes. And I'm afraid I must give you the same answer as I did him- out of the question."

"But why?" I burst out. "Why can't we all compete? This isn't fair!"

He raised a white eyebrow at my answer. "He didn't tell you, did he?" the Hokage asked. He didn't seem to expect an answer from me, however, as he nodded to himself. "Of course. Knowing Kakashi, this is another of his tests. In that case, I won't ruin it for you. But I'm sure you'll find out why soon."

Now I was confused as well as frustrated. "That doesn't make any sense!" Another test? What did he mean?

"My decision is final. I'm sorry, Suten."

I clenched my fists tightly, trying to come up with another argument and finding none. I didn't want him to apologize- I wanted him to fix it! Angry tears were beginning to burn in the corners of my eyes, and I turned, threw open the door, and ran so that no one could see them. Why did it have to be anyone? Why did it have to be me? It wasn't fair!

When I got home, my mother took one look at me and opened her mouth to ask what was wrong, but I just buried my face into her chest and let her hold me as I cried.

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><p><strong>1: This is interesting because Sasuke says 'Shut up or I'll kill you' to his Taka teammates in Shippuden. Also 'Silence! I kill you!' from Achmed the Dead Terrorist comes to mind. This expression seems very popular in the east.<strong>

**Aww, poor Suten...so there you have it. Takashi Suten will not be formally participating in the Chuunin Exams. Again, this idea I have is crazy, but it might just be crazy enough to work. ****I sort of tweaked the application form thing. Instead of already having the name on the form, the ninja has to write their name(as well as sign their consent). This way, any three of Kakashi's students can enter, so long as they are in fact Kakashi's students. It's a small change, but sort of important all the same. Not really.**

**Question: should I add the swear words? They are 12 and 13 years old, and while I didn't swear at that age and swearing makes me uncomfortable, I was sheltered and I know from the subs that Team 7 and others do. I won't add any more than necessary, and if I feel there's too much I can always tone it down. Then again, it might seem weird if I just randomly start adding swears, the way I'm trying to quit adding moonspeak- meaning no more Japanese words unless they're nouns or honorifics.**

**Also, shall I just jump right into the Chuunin Exams next chapter, or will we have a sort of flashback-thing where we delve into Suten's childhood a little?**

**Questions? Comments? Concerns? Please review!**


	28. Chapter 28

**Sorry if you thought this was a new chapter, but I have bad news- pretty bad news, in fact.**

**My lovely laptop, which has served me well for almost as long as I've been on this site, has suffered a hard drive crash. Thankfully my dad is working on restoring it, but he says it could take some time. I am currently writing on his MacBook Pro- which I'm sure is great for him, but the setup is hard for me to get around. Also, the keyboard is smaller, so I keep pressing the wrong keys while I'm trying to write. Which is frustrating. In addition, this is in fact my dad's, so I don't have constant access to it like I would my own laptop.**

**What does this mean for I Hate Uchiha, you ask? Unfortunately, this MacBook is being lent for the use of schoolwork only. Therefore I won't be able to use it for writing or for watching the anime as reference. So I'm afraid you won't be getting any new chapters until my laptop is fixed. You know, if it gets fixed…**

**I'm really kind of bummed out about the whole deal, but I'm trying (trying so hard) to keep a positive attitude. I've recently had a total emotional paradigm shift: I don't wear all black anymore, I feel happier, and my confidence has increased considerably. I definitely want to keep feeling this way, too, so I'm not about to let anything get me down. Even though this is a really great laptop…**

**Of course, Suten isn't me, so she won't go through this same paradigm shift, at least not until Shippuden. Hopefully I'll be able to write her the same way, though. **

**Again, I don't know when my laptop will be ready for me to use, so just keep your fingers crossed for me! Or toes. Or eyes. Or any various appendages you may have. Braid your hair, curl your tongue, do whatever could possibly be considered 'crossing' something but probably won't work. It's the thought that counts, right? Well, stay tuned and-**

**Ooh, wait, now this is a solely Author's Note chapter, which isn't allowed. So let's see, what can I give you guys? Maybe I can give you an omake of some sort. What can I come up with on the spot?**

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><p>Today was the day.<p>

Naruto rubbed his hands together, chuckling to himself with glee. His hour of triumph was finally at hand. Today would be the day he finally beat Sasuke! After all, Kakashi-sensei had advised him that a good ninja discovered his opponent's weaknesses in order to take him down. And he had just the thing in his jutsu arsenal.

The "soon-to-be victim" was training by himself just ahead, practicing taijutsu on an imaginary opponent. His typical sparring partner hadn't showed up yet, and he was seriously considering just going to find her. Of course, he knew Naruto had been hiding nearby and watching him for a while, but he didn't care- he could take anything that moron could try on him.

'I'll take him by surprise!' the blonde thought excitedly, before popping out of his hiding spot in the bushes and charging.

"Sasuke!"

Deciding any sparring partner was better than none, the young avenger looked up, but was greeted with a large cloud of smoke. He immediately shifted backwards, preparing for the typical kage bunshin.

"Oiroke no Jutsu!"

The smoke cleared, revealing a busty blonde wearing only thin trails of smoke. The sparkling blue eyes and whisker-marks on her cheeks identified her as Naruto's female form. She posed sexily, blowing a kiss. "Mwa~ Sasuke-kun…"

Sasuke just stared for a few moments before responding simply, "You really are a loser. That's not going to work on me."

"Don't be like that, Sasuke-kun," purred Naruto seductively. She fluttered her long eyelashes. "Come on, don't you think I'm pretty?"

"No," said Sasuke, "just annoying."

Naruto, however, would not be dissuaded. One way or another, she would find out Sasuke's weakness and exploit it! With another poof, she transformed into another woman, this one with long tomato-red hair. "So you prefer redheads, Sasuke-kun?"

"You've reached a new level of idiot."

"Ehhh?!" The blonde looked completely dumbfounded. "Why isn't it working? Unless…" Naruto paused and folded her arms beneath her ample bosom, looking thoughtful. "Unless Suten was right and you really aren't into girls."

"Tch! She's wrong. She doesn't know anything." Sasuke retorted huffily, jamming his hands into his pockets. That conversation was still a touchy subject for him. Not into girls- who did she think she was?

The orange ninja stared at his rival in a contemplative manner- which wasn't often for him- before grinning like a fox. "Gotcha."

"What are you-"

"Oiroke no Jutsu!"

Sasuke shook his head as Naruto was enveloped in smoke once more. "Dobe, I already told you that's not…" He broke off, staring in silent shock as the smoke cleared.

In front of him was a girl clearly different from the others. With a long black ponytail seated high on her head, alluring blue eyes, and a slight pout, there was no denying.

Naruto had transformed into a mature version of Suten.

She stuck a hand on her hip. "Hey, Uchiha."

Sasuke swallowed. 'It's not her, it's just the dobe,' he told himself over and over. 'Just the dobe with an admittedly good henge.'

Oh, Naruto could definitely get used to seeing the all-proud Uchiha squirm like this. Inside he was snickering to himself. "Don't get me wrong," she began, stepping towards him. "I'm not one of your fangirls and I never will be. But…" She looked at him from beneath her long black lashes. "If you want…I could be something else…"

A small trickle of blood dripped from Sasuke's nostril at the thought. "H-hn," was all he could say.

'I've got him right where I want him!' cheered Naruto inwardly. 'Now all I have to do is-'

"Ahem."

At the sound of the new voice, both genin slowly turned towards the entrance to the training field. There, with arms folded, stood the real and current Takashi Suten.

"Is this what you two get up to when Sakura and I aren't here?" she asked.

Naruto immediately undid the jutsu with a guilty and slightly terrified expression. "W-well, you see…"

Sasuke quickly wiped the blood from his nose.

The ponytailed brunette frowned. "Also, out of everyone in the village, why'd you pick me for your weird jutsu?" she asked, unsure whether to be offended or not.

At this question, the blonde perked up with a wide grin. "That's because Teme- oof!"

Removing his elbow from Naruto's gut, Sasuke interrupted with a pink face, "Let's spar."

She gave him a weird look, but sighed. "Fine… Naruto, I guess you're staying to watch."

Now that he was no longer 'in trouble', the blonde nodded eagerly. He'd never seen one of Sasuke and Suten's sparring sessions before. "Yeah!"

"No," corrected Sasuke, shooting him a glare. "He's not."

"What's wrong with him staying?"

Searching for a reason without giving away his true thoughts, Sasuke replied, "He's annoying."

"Then ignore him."

"He'll get in the way."

"I don't see how."

"He doesn't belong here."

Now she looked frustrated. "It's a training field, Sasuke, anyone who's a ninja belongs here." She knew he and Naruto were especially hostile nowadays, but this was ridiculous. "Look, if you don't have a reason that doesn't make you sound like an Academy student, I came here to spar."

'I don't want that dobe butting in on the only one-on-one time I get with you,' thought Sasuke. On the outside, however, he shot Naruto a death glare before looking away, clearly against the blonde's presence but having no further arguments to share. "Hn."

Correctly interpreting that as his reluctant agreement, she nodded. "Good. Get ready, I'm not going easy on you," she added, shifting into an offensive stance.

"That's my line," Sasuke replied, shooting Naruto another glare.

Naruto just grinned as the pair began to clash. He'd finally found out what made his rival tick. Today was a pretty good day.

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><p><strong>There we go, a nice omake. Sasuke really doesn't like Naruto butting in on his Suten-time. Or, you know, anything having to do with Naruto and Suten in general. <strong>

**Questions? Comments? Concerns? Please review!**


	29. Chapter 29

**(Sorry this is so late, please endure the now outdated opening AN)**

**Merry Christmas! Or Happy Hanukkah or Kwanza, if you prefer. I spent Christmas Eve having a 'slumber party' in the living room with my 3 younger siblings. And by slumber party, I mean they all amused themselves on their phones and laptop and were completely antisocial. Kids these days with their Vines and their Instagrams… **

**But more importantly- in the spirit of the season, how about we sing a little song?**

**_On the whateverth day of Christmas, my father(not Santa because I saw him) gave to me~_**

**_$20 dollars in iTunes _**

**_NaruShippu Storm 3_**

**_And my now working yet blank laptop!_**

**You read that right. After nearly a full month of waiting for HP to get their act together and fix the computer, my dad finally thought 'Screw it, my beloved daughter is unhappy and I'm not going to rely on these idiots anymore' and took matters into his own hands. The result is a memory-less, slightly slow, but fully operational laptop. Hey, it still has Word and Chrome, and that's all I need at the moment. Don't worry, by the way, I'm currently reloading all of my files back onto the laptop, so nothing has been lost. You know, except my time.**

**I would have gotten to work writing sooner, but a thing called me. And that thing was called ****_Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3: Full Burst. _****Just. If you don't have it, get it. Now. The fangasms I've had. Ermahgerd. It's so awesome. And after playing that game for a really long time(and here's the part you care about) I have been blessed with a boatload of inspiration. Of course, story-wise this does me little good, because this plot hasn't reached Shipuuden yet. You know, unless I start the Shipuuden now… Which maybe I will in fact do.**

**The point is, new chapter. Rejoice. Merry Christmas. And Happy New Year.**

**I own Suten and her parents, and currently that's it.**

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><p>I spent the next few days in self-imposed exile. Team 7 didn't have any missions, so I used the time to- as I said- stay home and help my mother. Except my mother could pretty much take care of herself, so really I just used the time to stay home and mope. And really, what else was there for me to do? Everyone else was busy training for the Chuunin Exams- you know, the one I wasn't competing in. I tried training by myself, but it didn't seem as rewarding anymore.<p>

Eventually my mother suggested I take this time to try practicing my jutsu, so I headed out to our small backyard and spent the morning practicing everything I was supposed to learn in the Academy again. Bunshin no Jutsu- no flesh-and-blood clones like Naruto could do, but it suited my purposes just fine. For Kawarimi no Jutsu, I basically substituted myself for random logs over and over again, which was pretty boring.

Last but not least was Henge no Jutsu- during which, out of boredom, I just transformed into the other members of my team and made fun of them.

"Hi! I'm Uzumaki Naruto! I'm the best ninja ever, even though I wear a bright orange jumpsuit and have no idea what stealth means! Also, Sasuke's stupid and lame! There's no way he's a better ninja than me, even though I've never actually beaten him in a spar! Or in anything!"**(1)**

"I'm Haruno Sakura, and I just LOVE Sasuke-kun! He's so cool and handsome- way better than that stupid Naruto, who I hate so much because he's a better person than I am! I follow Sasuke-kun home every day and hide in his closet- or I would, but I have no ninja talent!"

"Hn. Uchiha Sasuke. Angst angst angst. I act like a total jerk to everyone but all the girls love me. I'm the greatest ninja in the whole village and anyone who's not me is an idiot. Bask in my awesomeness. And angst."

"My name is Kakashi, I'm your sensei, and that's all I'll ever tell you about me. Now back to my porn."

"I'm glad to see you're keeping yourself up to par."

I jumped, undoing the henge and whipping around to see the real Hatake Kakashi standing behind me. "Oh, uh, sensei! How long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough," he replied ambiguously. "It looks like you still don't think very highly of your teammates. Maybe we should have another teamwork exercise?"

"That's not necessary!"

**_-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-_**

"Anyway, Kakashi-sensei," I began in a more subdued tone, "what are you doing here? I thought you'd be helping the others train for the Exams." You know, the one I wasn't competing in.

He nodded. "That's true, but I just thought I'd check up on you."

That made sense. I obviously hadn't been very happy when we last met. "Thanks, but I'm fine," I muttered, looking away.

"I can see that," he replied dryly.

"…I'll get over it."

"I'm sure you will."

"Sensei, if you're just here to make fun of me…"

He feigned shock. "I would never. But if you're so keen for me to leave, I guess you wouldn't want to hear what I actually came here to tell you."

"What is it?" I felt a small inkling of hope. Maybe he had figured out a way to get me into the Exams after all..?

"Before you ask, no, there's still no way for you to enter the Exams."

…Well, there went my hope.

"However… while the rules state that only three-man teams can enter, there's nothing keeping a fourth member from accompanying his- or her- teammates to the testing area."

At this news l looked up at him in shock and confusion. "Accompany them to the testing area? But what does that help? I'm still not competing!" To me it almost seemed like a final stab in the gut-having to watch them go on and officially leave me behind.

"It won't be as bad as you think," Kakashi-sensei told me calmly. "This way you'll be able to stake out the competition beforehand. Remember that not all of the genin competing this year will pass. Next year, they'll be your opponents. And besides," he gave me a closed eye smile, "your teammates will need your moral support. I can think of one teammate who would appreciate having you there, if only part of the way."

"…who's that?"

"Well, if you don't know by now, I'll let you figure it out for yourself." Before l could question him further, he continued, "That's all I had to say. Later." Making a handsign, he vanished in a puff of smoke.

A teammate who wanted me there? Who did he mean? For some reason my thoughts turned to a certain Uchiha… but that was ridiculous. Why would he, of all people, want me to come?

Whatever. Kakashi-sensei must have just been reading too much erotica again. But even so…

Eventually I realized that sitting in the grass puzzling about it would get me nowhere, and after yelling to my mother that l was going out, went to go for a walk. I hadn't left the house in four days, after all. This was because I didn't want to risk running into Naruto, Sasuke, or Sakura and being reminded (again) that they were taking the Exams and I wasn't.

Yeah. Despite what I'd told Kakashi, I was still sore about not being able to enter.

Even still, I felt a little more relaxed being out in the village again. The fresh air made me feel at ease, and the semi-crowded streets were familiar. I never understood how anyone could stay indoors forever, especially when it came to Konoha and how beautiful it was. Of course, I was probably a little biased, seeing as I'd only ever been to one other village in my entire life…but it had to be impossible not to love a place like this.

I felt kind of hungry, so I steered clear of Ichiraku Ramen for obvious reasons and bought myself a stick of dango instead. I didn't buy dango too often because my mother usually made me sweets herself- plus D-rank genin missions didn't pay too highly. Clearly there was a better salary for higher ranked shinobi though, because that one woman with the mesh shirt and spiky ponytail was sitting there gorging herself yet again. **(2) **

Anyway, I finished my dango and found myself heading to the training field. I'd been keeping away from it because there was a pretty good chance I could run into that certain Uchiha there…but I missed feeling like I was slowly yet steadily becoming stronger. I hadn't trained properly in half a week and I could almost feel myself deteriorating.

There wasn't anyone there for me to practice against, so I headed resignedly to the training posts set up in the field. It seemed like only yesterday that Naruto had been tied to one of those posts. We'd come so far from that day, but sometimes it felt like nothing had changed.

"You're Takashi Suten, right?"

The unfamiliar voice from behind made me stiffen automatically, one hand still outstretched mid-punch. "Yeah," I said slowly, retracting my fist. "Who are you?"

"I've heard about you," continued the voice as if I hadn't said anything. "The only Konoha rookie who's not entering the Chuunin Exams."

My fists clenched at the reminder of the sore subject, and I didn't reply.

"It's not fair, huh? Being left behind while all your classmates go on ahead of you. I almost feel sorry for you."

That was enough of this conversation. "I said, who are you?" I repeated sharply, whirling around to face him with a kunai knife already in hand.

The man behind me was easily two feet taller than I was- and wider, too. Every inch of him screamed threatening, from his dark clothes to his pupil-less eyes- and from his hitai-ate, he wasn't from around here, either. He must be another person preparing to take the Chuunin Exams, like that creepy Gaara guy. Weren't there any non-terrifying people entering this year?

"My name doesn't matter," responded the stranger. "But here's something that does- I can help you."

…wait, he could what?

From within his dark cloak, he drew a familiar-looking piece of paper. "Look at this. A Chuunin Exams application form. If you fill this out- even without your sensei's recommendation- you'll allowed to enter the Exams. That is, if you think you're up to it."

I stared at the form with wide-eyes. The answer to all of my problems was right in front of me. "What's the catch?" I asked quickly, before I could get swept up in thoughts of the Exams. "What do you get for helping me?"

He chuckled darkly. "I thought you'd say that sooner or later. You'll get what you want…when I get what I want. And I want your Hokage's Scroll of Sealing."

"The Scroll…of Sealing?" But…no! I couldn't steal from the Hokage, even if it meant I would get into the Chuunin Exams! Even though I really, really wanted to get into the Chuunin Exams…

"Go on, what are you waiting for?" pressed the shinobi impatiently. "Hurry up and get me the Scroll, or I'll rip up this form right now!"

This could be the last chance I would have to get into the Exams. But…would it be worth committing treason? Wait, why was I even considering this? I threw the kunai knife at him. "No! You can rip it up if you want, I don't care!"

He jumped back and scoffed at me disbelievingly. "What? You're going to give up your chance of becoming a Chuunin? Of supporting your teammates? Of fulfilling your dreams? All for the old geezer who told you no in the first place?"

"Forget it! It's true, I really want to enter the Exams with my team, but…" I clenched my fists. "The kind of person who would betray her village so easily like that… The kind of person who would put her own selfish desires above everything else… That's not the kind of person I am! Maybe I am just a rookie, but I'm still a proud kunoichi of Konoha, and I'll stay loyal to Konohagakure forever, no matter what!"

"And what about the Chuunin Exams?"

"I can always take them next year, on my own terms! I don't have to rely on someone like you!" I reached for more weaponry menacingly. "Now get out of my training field!"

He stared at me for a moment "You're definitely Kakashi's student," he said, before vanishing just as suddenly as he'd shown up. His final words echoed throughout the clearing. "Let's see how long that confidence lasts."

"You'll be waiting for a long time!" I yelled after him. The nerve of that guy, trying to convince me to turn on my village. I wouldn't stoop that low just to get into the Chuunin Exams!

…although I really, really wanted to get into the Chuunin Exams… I sighed. Maybe I wasn't as unwavering as I pretended to be.

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><p><strong>1: I haven't been writing in Naruto's 'dattebayo's, but they're still there. It wouldn't make sense to write them in now(it's easier to take things out than to add them in), so since Suten is making fun of him, just imagine her adding 'dattebayo' at the end of every sentence. And I do mean every sentence. <strong>

**2: Fun fact- 'Mitarashi' is a type of dango covered in soy sauce, and 'Anko' is the red bean paste that's used in Japanese sweets. If you thought Naruto was the only one named after an aspect of his favorite food, think again.**

**So here we have what Suten's getting up to in the time before the Chuunin Exams. I at first wrote her 'preliminary' as 'Sasuke' taking her out to confess to her and then getting 'killed'. Then I realized that Iruka wouldn't know anything about their budding feelings for each other and changed it so that he's testing her loyalty. And of course, I smile whenever I write about young Suten asserting how she'll 'stay loyal to Konoha forever', because I know that her loyalty will be a big issue in the Shipuuden installment. **

**Mm, but I've said too much already. Hope you enjoyed, and Happy New Year! **

**Questions? Comments? Concerns? Please review? **


	30. Chapter 30

**Welcome to another chapter of I Hate Uchiha! Alright, so I put the prologue for that Fairy Tail fic up when I stupidly didn't have anything else ready. So...forget that for now? I will get to it, just...**

**Another thing: my inbox has been clogged with emails from Fanfiction lately, informing me that more and more people are favoriting and following both me and this story. I mean...I'm just so pleasantly surprised, and flattered. How are you people even finding this little fic of mine? I mean, wow. The ratio of favorites and follows to reviews is at least... 8:1 or something though. Please don't be too afraid/lazy to tell me what you think of my fic. It inspires me and you will get chapters faster when I am inspired. **

**First of all, I didn't actually thank the people who reviewed for the AN/omake chapter, so thanks to: Nadeshiko291210! XxanimeaddictxX(Yay FineBros)! XxCupcakeAssassinxX! Of Anime and Manga! My imouto who again didn't say anything about the chapter and doesn't seem to appreciate my hard work... And Guest!**

**Next, those who reviewed the previous chapter: Silvermist464! blackenflames! Kaito the Shadow Wrya! Jirouto(Happy New Year to you too!) XxCupcakeAssassinxX! emosteve! Purple Dragon Ranger! Firewarrior123x! Neko Pelzig(hehe, you called me Author-sama), and eve-tsuki94! **

**No more stalling- I own Suten and her family, and...that's it.**

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><p>In any case, a day or two later I found myself running down the street for the Academy- five minutes late. I'd almost decided on not going to see them off to the Exams… but it felt like I would be letting that person down, the person Kakashi-sensei said apparently wanted me to come. Of course, that didn't mean I actually believed my porn-worshipping sensei, but… I don't know, maybe a part of me wanted to.<p>

I just hoped that I wasn't too late- there! I spotted the familiar heads of pink, yellow, and blackish-blue just heading into the Academy doors. "Wait! Wait for me!"

They stopped in shock and turned to meet me as I finally made it into the courtyard and immediately hunched over, gasping for breath. "I overslept," I explained after catching my breath, straightening.

My teammates exchanged looks of guilt and awkwardness- well, Sasuke just refused to look me in the eye- as if silently debating who would have to break the news to me… again. As always, Naruto got the short stick. "Uh, Suten," he began slowly, rubbing the back of his spiky blonde head, "you don't have an application form. You're not in the Exams."

"You could have said it better!" Sakura hissed at him, shooting me a glance. That was new. Since when did she care about sparing my feelings? Or had she just not yelled at Naruto yet today?

At any rate, I nodded. "No, I know. But I can still come with you up to the testing area. According to sensei, at least." I folded my arms and adopted a lofty expression, trying to act as if this didn't bother me. "I don't get what you're all so surprised about- we're still a team, right?"

They stared at me again- and yes, all three of them this time- before Naruto broke into a grin. "Right! Let's go!"

**_-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-_**

"What was that?"

On our way up to the exam area, we noticed a handful of genin standing around anxiously. Ahead of them, a pair of cocky-looking shinobi blocked the door to the room we needed to get into- at least, if that sign was to be believed, but that seemed off to me. I frowned at it slightly, then noticed Sakura eyeing it as well. Had she..?

The one I'd just heard, a guy with spiky hair and maybe a cold, continued talking. "Listen, we're being nice to you," he told the crowd. "The Chuunin Exams are extremely difficult."

"We've seen guys give up or get seriously injured taking this exam," his friend added in. He wore his hitai-ate as a bandanna.

"A Chuunin is the commander of a squad," continued the first. "The commander takes responsibility for failing missions or the deaths of their teammates. And to think, these brats are trying to…" He then sniffled, confirming my thought that he had a cold, and therefore causing me to nickname him Sniffles.

Bandanna smirked, believing he had successfully intimidated the crowd. "What's wrong with sifting out the ones who aren't going to pass anyway?"

He had in fact cowed most of the Chuunin hopefuls, seeing as none of them dared to make a move to contradict him. However, there was only one kind of person who could stand up to an incredibly arrogant jerk. And that was another incredibly arrogant jerk.

"That's a sound argument," Sasuke allowed cooly as he strode up, the rest of our team following behind. "But I WILL pass." Although his overbearing arrogance was irritating all of the time, I was almost grateful for it here. I didn't exactly like him just assuming leadership, but by following his lead we all looked really cool and intimidating.

"And undo the genjutsu you have around the area," he added, confirming my suspicions about the sign. "I'm going to the third floor."

Behind me, I could hear the genin whispering to each other in confusion. Wait, we were seriously the only ones who saw something fishy? Even Naruto knew what was going on for once- or at the least, he was pretending that he did.

The pair standing at the door looked a little annoyed at having their game found out. "Oh?"

"You noticed?"

In response, Sasuke looked over his shoulder. "Well, Sakura?" he questioned, getting the pinkette's attention. "You should have noticed first. Your analyzing skills and genjutsu know-how are the best in our squad."

…what the heck? I'd noticed at about the same time she had! Why had he asked her to confirm the genjutsu and not me? Besides, what was he praising her and making her feel special like that for? Saying things like she was the best in the squad…Didn't he know that would only make her think he liked her?

Did Sasuke like her? But no, that's ridiculous. It was Sakura, his annoying fangirl! I mean…that'd be as ridiculous as me liking Naruto, if not worse!

At any rate, Sakura looked a little confused, but quickly puffed up under her idol's praise- as expected. "Well, of course I've noticed it already!" she agreed, shooting me a self-righteous look over her shoulder. Now she thought she was something great because stupid Uchiha had actually acknowledged her… "Obviously this is the second floor."

The genjutsu was dispelled now that the truth had been stated, revealing the room Sniffles and Bandanna had been standing in front of to be 201 and not 301. "Hm, you're pretty good," complimented Sniffles, seemingly getting over his shock. "But just being able to detect it isn't enough…"

Without warning he flipped into a handstand, aiming a spinning roundhouse kick at Sasuke. Naturally Sasuke wasn't caught off guard and aimed an uppercut kick in retaliation. It looked as if they were going to have a fight right there…

But then another genin got in the way. Wait, what? I blinked, not sure if I was seeing correctly, but no, there was a guy standing there holding both Sasuke and Sniffles' legs mid-kick. How had he moved over there and blocked them both so fast- maybe he'd just been standing right here and I'd just not seen him somehow?

Then I actually took a look at the genin as he let the two go, and wrinkled my nose. Nope, there's no way I could've missed someone so… bizarre looking. The guy had on a green spandex jumpsuit with Naruto-orange leg warmers. His ultra-shiny black hair looked as if someone'd stuck a bowl on his head and cut off all the hair that peeked out, and his eyebrows… they looked like two fuzzy black caterpillars had been glued to his head.

…come to think of it, I think I had seen this guy before. Hadn't he been lying on the floor when we'd walked in earlier? I'd temporarily forgotten about him because I hadn't gotten the full effect of his appearance.

At any rate, two people who I assumed to be his teammates approached him. One was…definitely a guy despite his long hair, and actually kind of attractive. The other was a girl with a pink top (ugh, pink) and her hair in buns. The guy didn't look too happy. "You broke the pact," he told his odd teammate in an irritated tone. "You're the one who didn't want to gather attention by doing something that stands out."

"But…" The weird genin turned towards us with a strange look in his eye, and his teammates looked even more annoyed as he began his approach. Did he want to challenge Sasuke? No, he was going for Sakura- what was going on?

"My name is Rock Lee," he began seriously, looking Sakura dead in the eye. "You are Sakura-san, right?" Suddenly he beamed at her, throwing in a wink and a thumbs up for good measure. "Please go out with me! I will protect you until I die!" I swear his teeth were so shiny that they made a weird pinging sound. I wasn't even aware teeth could ping, but his did. To be honest, the whole image he put on at that moment was just incredibly disturbing. And, since it was Sakura he was proposing to and not me, it was also incredibly funny.

Sakura just looked incredibly uncomfortable. "…no way."

The poor guy seemed absolutely crushed. "What?"

"You're too… unique for my tastes."

"Hey, Sakura," I commented, trying to hold back snickers. "You should go out with him. The way I see it, it's either him or Naruto."

"You can just stay out of this!" she hissed, glaring at me.

"Hey, you there."

I quickly sobered upon hearing the longhaired guy's voice, and turned to see him addressing Sasuke. "Identify yourself," he commanded.

Sasuke wasn't fazed. "It's common courtesy to give your own name before asking for someone else's."

Ah, great. The only thing worse than being around one conceited yet attractive jerk was being around **two** of them. Now we wouldn't get anything done, because the two of them would be too busy puffing themselves up and trying to knock each other down with their inflated egos. "That rule didn't apply with that Suna genin," I muttered, and Sasuke shot me a warning look.

When I looked the guy over, it looked like he might be from the Hyuuga clan. He had the same weird pale eyes as the Hyuuga girl who had been in class with us. She'd been so quiet, I couldn't exactly remember what her name was. It had something to do with a flower, didn't it? Hi…Hina… Hanabi? Or was it Hinata? No, Hanabi sounded right.

Come to think of it, I thought all prestigious clans (Hyuuga and Uchiha especially) were supposed to act all snobby and uptight. Why hadn't she been like that?

"You're a rookie, aren't you?" questioned the longhaired Hyuuga, seemingly without missing a beat. What did I say- only arrogant jerks could handle arrogant jerks. "How old are you?"

"I'm not obligated to answer that."

"What did you say?"

The bun-headed girl giggled a little, seeming to like Sasuke's attitude… as did all girls for some reason. Except me. Besides, what was she attracted to; she had an arrogant jerk on her team already! She should be immune to his so called 'charm' by now.

The pair stared each other down, before Sasuke decided he'd gotten bored and walked away. Apparently he'd decided this guy wasn't worth his time after all.

I sighed, putting my hands on my hips. "I swear… He's always like that," I told the Hyuuga and the bun-head. "I don't know why I bother with him…" I also didn't know why I'd bothered talking to this guy in the first place.

He raised an eyebrow at my initiating conversation, but asked, "So you know him?"

"Yeah, he's on my team. We're a four-genin squad, but I'm not competing this year." It hurt a little to say the words, but I tried not to act like it bothered me.

He stared at me for a moment, before replying simply, "Then I don't see why you're here."

"…what?"

"Suten." I turned to see Sasuke taking a step towards me. His eyes narrowed as he saw who I'd been talking to. "Enough wasting time. Let's go."

I nodded, still a little stunned. "Y-yeah, right." The bun-head looked almost apologetic as I turned away to rejoin my teammates, but she didn't say anything else to me.

When I made it over to them, Sakura was cheerily taking both Naruto's and Sasuke's hands, saying something with a smile about showing team spirit. She'd gotten pretty confident all of a sudden, she would never have done this before. Probably because someone had fed her ego... The blonde tried and failed to hide how clearly ecstatic he was about finally getting to hold hands with his crush, and the pinkette obviously had a similar emotion going on. The ravenette of the party was again pretending that he didn't care either way- but he didn't make any moves to let go.

Staring at the two of them, at his hand clasped in her feminine one, a small lump of hot anger formed in the pit of my stomach.

"Hey, Suten!" Naruto's voice snapped me out of it partially, and I saw him grinning back at me. "You're part of this team too! Get over here," he called, waving his free hand at me.

I paused for a moment to make a split second decision. "Okay, I'm coming," I responded finally, before I walked forward and slipped my hand into his like it was no big deal. By his, in case there was any confusion, I meant the resident knucklehead ninja, who looked at me for a moment in mild surprise before accepting it.

And I had plenty of reasons for taking his hand and not someone else's. Firstly because again, Sakura would pitch a fit if I got too close to her darling Sasuke. Not only that, for some reason the thought of actually holding hands with the Uchiha (never mind the other two) had made me feel incredibly uneasy. Besides, it looked like he didn't want anything to do with me during these Exams, if at all. That stupid fangirl he had was his priority now…

The thought made the lump of anger flare again, but I ignored it and walked with my team as if nothing was wrong. That's right- I'd gotten out of bed this morning to see my team off to the Chuunin Exams. I wasn't here to sulk over Sasuke's apparent rise out of asexuality. I wasn't here for him.

If I'd been looking, I would have seen Sasuke glowering darkly at my hand in Naruto's, yet unable to say a word.

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><p><strong>Look, Sasuke, you kinda asked for it what with you suddenly deciding to put Sakura on a pedestal. I mean, I know it was because Suten wasn't competing so you didn't need to show off her strengths, but come on, man. That's no way to get the girl!<strong>

**It's Naruto's lucky day, huh? He gets to hold hands with not one, but two girls. Whereas Sasuke is stuck with one girl who he doesn't actually like that way, and has to watch the girl he...maybe has some not-hatred feelings for...hold hands with 'that idiot'. No wonder he's upset. Jealous Sasuke is just so fun to write, though. ****And don't worry, we'll be seeing plenty of him. ****Forget Sharingan, green eyes suit him so much better. **

**Questions? Comments? Concerns? Please review!**


	31. Chapter 31

**Man this took longer than it should have for me to finish. But here it is, hot off the metaphorical press- the next chapter! Also, happy belated pi day for all you math geeks out there- which apparently includes me, because I spent half an hour on Tumblr that day giggling at math puns. I guess I actually understand the puns because I'm currently taking Trigonometry, but still. I WAS GIGGLING AT MATH PUNS.**

**Also you know I watch Sherlock now so that took up my afternoons too. Luckily for you, Sherlock only has 9 episodes at the moment, only 6 of which are on Netflix. **

**Anyway, time to thank my reviewers: blackenflames! x-psychicfire-x! TNKOTB! XxCupcakeAssassinxX! Broken Angel Wingz! Ita-chan18! belladu57! My foolish little sister! SlippedLips! alemery! Firewarrior123x! angrypixels! Matsuo Nozomi who's gone and reviewed nearly every chapter! And... k! Would you by any chance know L?**

**I know, I know, I'm corny. On to what you actually clicked on the story for! I own Suten and that is all!**

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><p>We continued on our way to the exam room in fairly high spirits. That jerkish Hyuuga we'd met had faded to the back of my mind, because it wasn't like I'd ever see him again. We'd finally been able to stop holding hands too, which was good for a couple reasons. First because Naruto and Sakura didn't need to be puffed up any more than necessary (even though I really didn't feel like any of it had been necessary). Also, thanks to said blonde moron, my hand was now sweaty and smelled like ramen. Ew. When I told him about this, he chuckled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, sorry… But now your hand has the best smell in the world on it!"<p>

But a third reason was that even from all the way over here, I could tell that Sasuke's mood had been steadily worsening. He seemed to be a little calmer now that we weren't all holding hands anymore, and that confused me. Usually I'd just chalk his mood up to him having to hold hands with Sakura, but apparently he was into that airheaded harpy now. So why would he be bothered? I sighed to myself. Guys made no sense sometimes- especially when their primary way of communication was insults and grunting.

"You there with the sharp eyes. Wait!"

It wasn't very clear who'd be described as having sharp eyes, so our entire team stopped and looked back in the direction of the voice. Standing on the balcony above us was… the same guy from earlier. Not the Hyuuga or the jerks who'd been blocking the door- the one with the really bad fashion sense. I shuddered as the green jumpsuit and shiny bowlcut assaulted my vision again.

Sasuke apparently decided he had the sharpest eyes out of all of us- which I guess made sense, considering his fancy new Sharingan. Or maybe this was just because he'd apparently elected himself as team leader and nobody had challenged him yet. "What do you want?"

The strange boy stared down at him, so apparently that had been who he meant. Geez, what was his name again? I'd been trying to block him from my memory, but I knew it was some fittingly weird name that didn't even sound Japanese. Maybe it was Brock something… Brock Key? No, maybe Broccoli? Yeah, that sounded about right, what with his green spandex horror and all. "Will you fight me- right here, right now?"

Sasuke stared at him, probably wondering if this was some kind of a joke. "Fight you right here, right now?" he repeated, eyes narrowing.

"Yes," the strange boy confirmed, jumping down from the balcony. "My name is Rock Lee." OH. Well, I was close. "You're supposed to identify yourself before you ask for someone else's name, right? Uchiha Sasuke-kun?"

Whoa, whoa, what was with this 'Sasuke-kun' all of a sudden? First of all, these two were only just now introducing themselves, they were nowhere near friendship level. Sakura only called Sasuke 'Sasuke-kun' because she just couldn't accept that he didn't like her that way. It just seemed a little strange to me. Maybe this guy really was a foreigner.

The Uchiha himself looked a little weirded out as well, but got over it and stated, "So you do know my name."

Oh yeah, that was the second thing. He already knew Sasuke's name, so he didn't need to ask for it, did he? Man, this guy was weird.

"I would like to fight you," repeated Rock Lee, shifting into an offense stance. "I would like to see how my moves will do against a descendent of the genius ninja clan." No, weird genin, please don't inflate his ego any more than it already is. "Also…" His gaze shifted to Sakura once more, and he blushed. "Sakura-san… I love you."

I snickered again. "Sakura, you should just go out with him."

"Nooo!" she wailed. "I hate those eyelashes!" She hunched over, hugging herself and shuddering. "His hairstyle, fuzzy eyebrows, and everything about him is just too weird for me!"**(1)**

"What are you talking about, weird? You have bright pink hair!"

"Shut up! That's different!"

"You're an angel," whispered Rock Lee, apparently not having heard anything she'd said about him. He blew her a kiss, winking one of his unnaturally round eyes at her. It formed into the shape of a pink heart and soared towards her. Naturally she screeched and dodged it, and it landed with a wet-sounding splat on a pillar nearby. "Very nice," he complimented. Jeez, what did it take to put this guy off? "How about this?" He suddenly began rapid firing pink, shiny kisses in Sakura's direction- and yes, it looked as weird as it sounded. Determined not to get hit by a single one, the pinkette dodged, ducked, and weaved, even bending over backwards at a 90 degree angle to avoid the last one. She was better at book smarts than actual ninja skills, though, so she ended up hitting her head on the wooden floor.

As for me, I was just doubled over laughing at her predicament. "It's easier to just accept his love, Sakura!"

"I said SHUT UP!" she snapped at me, gasping for breath as she straightened slowly. "And you, stop throwing weird things at me! I had to dodge those like my life depended on it!"

Rock Lee had the presence of mind to take this as more rejection. "You didn't need to avoid them that much," he muttered, slumping in defeat.

"Anyway," Sasuke said sharply, bringing us back to the more important point at hand, "you're challenging me knowing my name is Uchiha? I'm sorry to say this, but you're ignorant," he told his challenger, not sounding sorry at all. As usual. "Do you want to see what the name of Uchiha is capable of, fuzzy eyebrows?"

…did he seriously just call him fuzzy eyebrows? I mean, it's a fitting nickname, but… it's something you would think Naruto would come up with. No, more importantly…

"Wait!"

I'd actually been about to say just that, but Naruto had beaten me to it. He had a determined look on his face as he stared Rock Lee down. "I'll fight the fuzzy eyebrows guy," he stated. There, see. When Naruto said it, it sounded completely normal. As far as normal and Naruto went together.

Sakura didn't like this idea. "Naruto, what are you…"

"Don't worry. It'll only take five minutes."

"I don't want to fight you," Rock Lee told him firmly. "I'm only interested in Uchiha."

That only seemed to make Naruto even more determined to finish this guy off. "Everyone's annoying me with this 'Sasuke, Sasuke' thing!" he burst out, charging full speed at the green jumpsuited weirdo. I could see where his frustration was coming from, too- from those Suna genin to that Hyuuga jerk, everyone asked about Sasuke first and just overlooked him. I'd almost be offended too, but even if I had been participating this year, I didn't want these weird people taking an interest in me.

It all happened so fast I almost missed it. One second Naruto was charging Rock Lee with fist outstretched in a punch… the next, he was spinning towards the wall. Whoa. This guy was really good at taijutsu. I found myself… sort of impressed.

"I will declare this now," stated Rock Lee, almost as if nothing had happened. "You cannot defeat me. Because… I am the strongest of the Konoha genin right now."

If he'd said this before, I would have just laughed at him. But now that claim could actually have some truth to it. He looked like a clown, but this guy could have some real power behind him.

His interest successfully piqued, Sasuke smirked. "I accept your challenge."

"No, you don't," I retorted, stepping in front of my teammate to block his view of his challenger. "Sasuke, we need to get to the testing room. We don't have time to mess around with this guy."

Sakura nodded, though she probably didn't enjoy agreeing with me. "Yeah, we've got less than 30 minutes to turn in our applications!"

Despite our combined efforts, he blew us both off without even considering it. "Don't worry," he began, pushing me to the side. "It'll only take five minutes." And with that, he charged.

"You could at least use a different tactic!" I yelled after him as just like Naruto, he aimed a punch at Rock Lee- who then disappeared.

In a flash he reappeared above him, aiming a kick, which Sasuke dodged- then another kick from the ground, which Sasuke blocked… but no.

My eyes widened in shock as Sasuke was sent flying back to land at our feet. He'd definitely blocked that kick, hadn't he? Or had it gotten through his defense somehow? What was going on here?

At first the Uchiha looked as stunned and confused as I was, but he quickly got over that as he got back to his feet. "I'll show you," he told Rock Lee, smirking again. When I looked at his face again, his eyes were bright red. He was switching on his fancy new Sharingan- no wonder he was suddenly so confident. Even still, I had a bad feeling about this fight, as he charged for his opponent again. Something was off here, I could feel it.

That bad feeling only intensified as Sasuke was kicked straight in the face.

"My moves are neither ninjutsu nor genjutsu," informed Rock Lee, before running at Sasuke the moment he landed on the ground. Sasuke immediately tried his best to dodge the attacks, but the green-jumpsuited genin easily went past his defenses, delivering punishing blows. It seemed like this guy was just too fast. "My moves are solely hand-to-hand combat."

My fists clenched. Was this Rock Lee guy just toying with him? "You…" I started forward, intent on helping Sasuke out.

"Stay back!" Clutching his side, the Uchiha shot me a warning glare. "I'm handling this."

That's not what it looks like to me."

"Just stay out of the way!"

Rock Lee appeared right behind him. "Sasuke-kun. You may not be able to believe it right away, but…" Sasuke struck out viciously at him, but he jumped away easily. "I hear that the Sharingan has the ability to see through genjutsu, taijutsu, and ninjutsu. You can definitely see through and deal with genjutsu and ninjutsu techniques that require forming handsigns and molding chakra," he continued, as Sasuke grew visibly angrier and angrier, "but for hand to hand combat, it's a little different."

"…what do you mean?"

His opponent looked him in the eye and replied, "Even if you can see my movement with your Sharingan, your body just doesn't have the speed to keep up with mine. In other words, there's no point being able to see with your eyes if you can't keep up with your body."

As one can imagine, Sasuke didn't much like this response.

"Do you know that among the strong, there are genius types and hardworking types?" Rock Lee continued. "If your Sharingan is a genius type that carries the blood of the Uchiha…" At this point Sasuke decided he was tired of listening to this guy talk and charged again. But the strange genin wasn't quite done. "Then I am a hardworking type who continuously improved my hand-to-hand combat!" Even as the Uchiha reached him and began swinging his fists, he dodged easily.

"Your Sharingan and my ultimate hand-to-hand combat skills are a bad combination," he told Sasuke, before kicking him in the face once more and following him into the air. "And I will prove to you with this move…that hard work surpasses geniuses!" The bandages from one of his hands began to unravel.

That did it. No matter what that ego-driven jerk said, I was stepping in. I took a step forward, reaching backwards for a kunai knife.

But again, someone beat me to intervening. Before the green-jumpsuited genin could pull of his ultra-special move, the bandage was pinned to the wall by… a pinwheel? Of all things, a pinwheel?

"Stop right there, Lee."

If the pinwheel hadn't been odd enough, a giant red turtle**(2)** with yellow swirls on its shell and a hitai-ate around its neck stood in the middle of the room, looking at Rock Lee with a stern expression- if turtles could look stern. With the attack apparently canceled, the genin went to speak with the turtle, and Sakura immediately ran to catch Sasuke. I ran over too, but for a different reason.

Sasuke looked up in mild confusion with as I ran up…and kicked him in the head. "You idiot! I could have helped you!"

"Ow!" He clutched his head, shooting me a watery glare. "I didn't need your help!"

Didn't need my help? Had we just seen the same fight? "Ohh, you self-absorbed, stupid, male, arrogant Uchiha. I'd think that if I had a choice between asking my teammate for help or getting my butt kicked by some weirdo, the choice would be obvious! But no, not you! You always…" I stopped upon noticing the look on his face. That's right… He had to be feeling furious at himself already- he couldn't even land on his feet just now after that guy's attacks. I could always yell at him later.

More importantly, that guy, who was now kneeling in front of the turtle. "You were watching?" he asked, sounding like a small child with his hand caught in the cookie jar.

"Lee, that move is forbidden," reprimanded the turtle. Wait, was this guy actually getting reprimanded by a turtle?

"I'm sorry… I got carried away… But I wasn't going to use the Reverse Version!" he burst out, trying to get out of trouble. "Really, I'm telling the truth!"

"Hey, hey!" Naruto finally ran back over to us. I'd almost forgotten about the little moron after he'd been taken down in 5 seconds flat. "That's a turtle," he started, pointing. "Right? Right?"

"Isn't that obvious by just looking?" Sakura hissed, clearly edgy because her precious Sasuke was injured.

As usual, Naruto wasn't put off by her hostility. "So, so, a turtle can become a sensei, too?"

"I don't know!"

"Sakura doesn't know something?" I couldn't help commenting. "That's unbelievable!"

"Why don't you just keep your mouth shut already?"

"You fool!" boomed the turtle, and Lee flinched automatically. "Did you think that excuse would work? You should know very well what it means for a shinobi to expose his move." It stared him down with its…turtlish eyes. "Are you prepared to face the consequences?"

Rock Lee really didn't look prepared at all, but nodded dejectedly, steeling himself for whatever was to come. I honestly had to see this, though. What did 'consequences' mean for such a weird sensei and student? Tickle-torture? Having to carry that turtle on his back for an hour? I couldn't even imagine.

The turtle nodded in confirmation. "Then Gai-sensei, please take care of the rest."

…wait a minute, Gai-sensei? So the turtle wasn't the sensei after all? And who was-

A huge cloud of smoke erupted just then, briefly covering Lee and the turtle from view. When the smoke cleared… I immediately shuddered.

"You guys are in the springtime of your life, aren't you?!" Standing atop the turtle was… a grown man dressed exactly like Rock Lee. It was as if Lee had made an older and thus even creepier looking clone of himself. He was balancing on one foot in some weird pose and beaming like the mental patient he probably was.

"An even weirder guy came out!"

Either the older weirdo couldn't hear Naruto's outburst, or he was completely used to that kind of reaction. "Hey, Lee," he greeted with a bright grin. I swear his teeth were shining like mini-suns.

"Super weird and super bobbed hair," muttered Sakura, stunned.

"And super eyebrows too," added Naruto. "I've never seen anything like this…"

"Now I wish the turtle had been his sensei," I commented.

While the older weirdo apparently didn't care what we thought, the younger one clearly did and whirled around to defend his teacher. "Hey! Don't make fun of Gai-sensei!" he shouted. "He is the greatest man you will ever meet!"

"Well, excuse me for not noticing his greatness," the resident blonde yelled back, "I was too busy watching him crawl out from under a turtle!" That was a pretty good response, I had to commend him for it.

"He did not crawl out-"

"Lee."

Realizing that there were bigger things to deal with than what we thought of his sensei, Rock Lee turned back around with a solemn yet determined look on his face. "Yes, sir."

"You…IDIOT!"

We all watched in shock as Lee's sensei punched him square in the face, sending the poor weird kid flying. Of all the punishments I'd been expecting, that had nowhere near been it. It seemed a little… abusive. As Rock Lee struggled to get off the ground, his sensei approached him, and for a second I thought he was about to hit him again. "Lee, you…you…"

"S-sensei?"

"Lee!"

"Sensei!"

Wait, where did the sunset come from? I looked around in confusion as I suddenly found myself on a rocky beach, the sunset bathing the area in golden light. Had exposure to all this craziness made me start hallucinating?

"It's okay, Lee." The older guy's voice sounded choked with emotion as he stared deeply into his student's eyes. "Don't say anymore."

"Sensei!"

"Lee!" The two of them embraced as a wave crashed on the shore behind them.

I shuddered, pinching myself hard and hoping I wasn't the only one seeing this- no wait, that would make it real. What was worse, me having gone off the deep end, or this being real? Fortunately, the sunset scene soon faded from my vision. Unfortunately, the hugging didn't, and… oh Kami, were they crying? Even the turtle?

"Yes…this is true youth…"

"Senseiii!"

Naruto studied them for a minute thoughtfully before commenting with a grin, "It's kind of cool how they're hugging each other like that."

In response I whacked him upside the head and Sakura told him he was an idiot.

Finally the uncomfortable hugging session ended, but the weirdness wasn't done by a long shot. Lee's sensei placed a hand on Lee's shoulder, tears of 'manly emotion' still running down his cheeks. "It's okay, Lee," he began, still choked up. "It's normal to make mistakes when you're young."

"You're too kind, sensei," sniffled Lee, looking up at the incredibly strange man in awe that really wasn't deserved from what I could see.

"Now," he commanded, "run 100 laps at the training ground in the sunset!"

"Yes! Sensei!"

What sunset? The one I really hoped I hadn't been hallucinating- oh, and there was the sunset again. I really needed to get away from these lunatics, their crazy was contagious.

"Let's go!"

"Sir!"

Again, Naruto managed to snap out of his dumbfounded state to remember something important. "H-hey, wait a second! We were still talking!"

"What are you going to do about the Chuunin Exams?" Sakura added, snapping out of it as well. "There isn't any time left."

The strange man blinked in mild confusion, then chuckled. "Oh, right. Lee, I'll punish you for fighting and breaking a promise after the Exams, okay? Now do 500 laps!"

"Sir!"

"…maybe we should just leave them alone."

"They're idiots."

Naruto clearly only had one thing he was interested in at the moment. "Hey, so then what's that turtle?"

I shrugged. "I don't know, maybe it's just their mascot." It wouldn't be the weirdest thing I'd seen today.

Sakura shrieked suddenly, getting all of our attention. "He's looking our way!"

Again, he didn't seem to notice the insult. "You four. Is Kakashi-sensei doing well?" he asked.

All this time Sasuke seemed to have been stuck in a stunned, disgusted stupor of 'I lost to a loser like this'. He was finally able to get over it enough to assume his new leadership role. "You know Kakashi?"

"I don't just know him…" The strange man chuckled. "Some call us eternal rivals."

Sakura and Naruto didn't buy it for a second. "That sounds so fake!"

"How rude!" Rock Lee burst out, always ready to defend his sensei. "Gai-sensei is really…"

"It's fine," he allowed, still smiling self-confidently. "Don't say it out loud… Show it in your attitude." He beamed, and I swear his teeth made a pinging noise.

And then he was standing right behind us before I'd even realized he'd disappeared. This guy was even faster than Lee- not to mention that he had creepy written all over him. "The record currently stands at 50 wins and 49 losses," he stated as if nothing unusual had happened. "And let me just say that I'm stronger than Kakashi." His teeth made the pinging noise again.

"How's that?" Lee declared, looking incredibly proud of his weird sensei. "Gai-sensei's amazing, isn't he?"

Yeah, I think he's the only one in the world who'd use 'amazing' to describe someone like this.

Lee's sensei looked at Sasuke, still wearing that confident grin on his face. "Lee caused you trouble, but please forgive him for the sake of my face," he stated. "My refreshing face, that is."

I glanced at the Uchiha to see his reaction, but he seemed to have sunken into a second layer of disgusted stupor titled 'A guy like this is stronger than my sensei'. Poor guy. It had to be quite the shock to his overinflated ego. Hopefully he would recover eventually instead of sulking about it for the rest of his life.

"At any rate," continued Lee's sensei to the rest of us, unaware of the affect he'd had on Sasuke. "Lee and the four of you should head to the classroom soon. Although…" He stared at me for a moment, clearly trying to work out why Kakashi had sent a four-man squad.

Automatically I shook my head. "No, I'm not competing," I explained yet again. Maybe the more I said it, maybe the more I could convince myself that it didn't affect me. "I'm just walking them up to the testing area, that's all."

Well, he definitely seemed to like that. "A splendid idea!" he encouraged. "Endeavoring to support your teammates as long as possible, even if you can't journey all the way with them. Your loyalty is inspiring." He gave me a thumbs up and a wide grin, his teeth pinging again.

"Um… thank you..?"

"Enjoy the springtime of your youth to the fullest, surrounded by your comrades!" With a well-aimed kunai, the pinwheel pinning Lee's bandage was dislodged, and the younger weirdo immediately got to work rewrapping it around his hand. "Do your best, Lee!" called Lee's sensei, apparently full to bursting with pride. "Farewell." And with another cloud of smoke, he was gone, along with the turtle.

I blinked. "Can someone explain to me what just happened?"

"Explain to me too, while you're at it," Sakura added.

"Sasuke-kun. Let me say this before I go."

We all turned back towards Rock Lee, who apparently had something else to say now. "To be honest," he stated, "I came to test my skills.**(3)** A while ago, I lied: the strongest of the Konoha genin is a member of my team. I entered this exam to defeat him."

I frowned slightly. Was he talking about that jerk Hyuuga from earlier? The same one Sasuke had decided he wasn't interested in? I bet he wished he'd asked for the guy's name now instead of trying to act all cool.

"And you are one of my targets as well," Rock Lee announced, leveling Sasuke with his determined gaze. "Prepare yourself for the exam!" With that he literally somersaulted back onto the balcony and ran off.

Boys. Always trying to show off.

The pinkette was the first to notice Sasuke's unnaturally dark look(and for him, that was saying something). "Sasuke-kun," she said worriedly, not sure whether she should offer some kind of encouragement or not.

For the blonde it wasn't even a question. "Huh. Looks like the Uchiha clan isn't that great after all," he mused in an unimpressed tone, arms folded behind his head.

"Naruto!" hissed Sakura.

"Shut up," growled Sasuke. "Next time I'll slaughter him."

Before this would have shut most of us up, what with how menacing he sounded. But not Naruto. "You lost so badly, though." He paused, then continued in a slightly different tone, "You saw his hands, right?"

His hands? I knew they'd been bandaged up, but I hadn't been paying attention to when they'd been uncovered. There were other things vying for my attention.

"That fuzzy eyebrows guy must have trained a lot, every day… trained way more than you," he directed at Sasuke, clearly relishing in the opportunity to lecture Sasuke. "That's all there is to it."

I immediately took a step away from the Uchiha, expecting him to throw an enormous hissy fit, maybe even lunge after Naruto. If there was one thing I had learned from training with him, it was that Sasuke hated to lose- and the best way to make his mood worse was to make fun of him for losing. At this rate…

To my surprise, that familiar smirk spread across his face, his onyx eyes glowing once more with the thrill of a challenge. "This is getting interesting," he murmured. "The Chuunin Exams, that is."

I shook my head at him, putting my hands on my hips. "Jeez… you're all exited now, aren't you?" Despite my words, there was a small smile on my lips. He was finally back to his old arrogant self again. Never thought I'd miss that.

"Of course," he agreed cockily, before turning towards the door. "Let's go, Naruto, Sakura, Suten."

After a minor setback, we were finally on our way to the Chuunin Exams.

...at least, they were.

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><p><strong>Time for more random facts nobody but me notices or cares about:<strong>

**1. In the sub translation that I'm basing the story off of, the word isn't 'weird' but 'unique'. But that sounds…odd and everyone knows unique is just a nicer word for weird, so I went ahead and substituted weird anyway.**

**2. Actually judging from how it looks, this is a tortoise. But everyone seems to refer to it as a turtle, and there'd be no reason for Suten to know it was called a tortoise (most can't tell the difference) so she refers to it as a turtle too. I could change it to tortoise, but I don't like the way it sounds. Just saying that I know it's really a tortoise, but they don't.**

**3. Something I recognized and thought was interesting… isn't 'to test my skills' basically the reason Itachi gave Sasuke for committing genocide on their family? No wonder Sasuke got a dark look on his face in the anime right after Lee said that.**

**Can other people canonically see the rainbows and waterfalls and other youthful things that Lee and Gai produce during their 'youth-fests'? I don't know. But in this fic they can and to them it's just a really confusing and frightening experience.**

**Alrighty then! There are things calling my name, like RinmaruGames and senior year pressures and this amazing Brit who won't ever initiate contact with me for some reason ugh men are so confusing sometimes.**

**Suten: Yeah, I know that feel.**

**Oh! You guys said that you like jealous Sasuke... so what would you think if I added in a male OC during this segment, just to make him REALLY seethe?**

**Sasuke: ...wait, what?**

**Suten: So basically you're considering making me a boyfriend.**

**Sort of! And he'll be everything Sasuke isn't: charming, gentlemanly, a good listener...**

**Sasuke: Hn. He sounds like a pansy.**

**Suten: ...what else is he like?**

**Sasuke: *chokes***

**Now, now, you can both meet him if I decide he's a good idea. What do you readers think?**

**Questions? Comments? Concerns? Please review!**


	32. Chapter 32

**Do you ever have this thing happen? This thing where you have a good plan for how you want to do something, but when you actually do your research it turns out that's not how things work at all? And then suddenly you have to take some time and reformulate your plan, so that you get the same end result but it still makes sense with the research? **

**That ever happen to anyone? No? Just me? K then.**

**Anyway, I went to senior prom last Saturday. Really basic recap: got videotaped on the street by a creep, ignored by my not-date (who did pay for my dinner so...), d****anced until my foot cramped twice, and on top of all that my hair wouldn't stay put. **

**Moving on to the stuff you care about. Let's thank you lovely reviewers out there: Blackenflames! IKhandoZatman(deaf mathematicians communicate through...sin language *ba dum tss*) AngelicLuna! Guest named k! manga-addict-95! Ita-chan18! The Blueish Rose! YukikoNamikaze! CeliaSingsSongs! Jenova! **xRedxMoonx! **Amber! Guest who added a lot of frowny faces! FearThePanda! HopeForDuende! Annd Lynn D. Mariza!  
><strong>

**(H**ow do you all come up with such great sounding pennames? It's not just either, there are so many cool usernames on Tumblr and DeviantART, too. Did I miss some kind of class?)****

**Most of you seemed to like the new OC idea. So I'll add him in when the plot can allow for him- meaning not right now, mmk? **I should probably note that I am in fact reading every review and taking all of your opinions into serious consideration. All of them, not just the majority. ** **

**On to the new chapter! Our resident couple is slowly starting to figure out that they feel something for each other that isn't hatred or even mild tolerance. Very slowly. We learn just how awkward Sasuke is when it comes to other people's parents. And what's this- the Hokage seems to be reconsidering?**

**I own only the added drama. And Suten, who brings a good portion of the added drama with her. Enjoy.**

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><p>This was it. Room 301- no genjutsu, no weird jumpsuited freaks, nothing standing in our way. The thought set a heaviness in the pit of my stomach, but I shook myself. I could come here next year, next year. And it was better this way- if I'd never see some of the people I had meet today, it would be too soon.<p>

As we rounded the corner, we came face to face with Kakashi-sensei. He seemed to have been waiting for us this whole time in front of the doors. He scanned over our ranks and nodded to himself, as if confirming something. "I see, so Sakura came after all," he acknowledged. "Now you can officially register for the Exams."

We all looked slightly confused. Weren't we- they always able to register? "What do you mean?" Sakura pressed, not understanding how her presence affected the team's ability to register.

"To tell you the truth," he began, "the Exams can only be legally taken in groups of three. That's the real reason I was only given three applications."

"But sensei, you said we could decide whether we wanted to take it or not!" she insisted.

"Yeah, I did."

"Was that a lie?"

"Yep, it was." Noticing our blank stares and deciding to elaborate, he continued, "If I'd told you that immediately, Sasuke and Naruto would force you to take it- or to give your application to Suten." At this Sakura glanced at the two boys, who seemed to agree with that statement. "Even if you didn't want to take the Exams, if Sasuke asked you, you'd try to take it anyway. For Sasuke…and for Naruto."

My gaze dropped to the ground, hands tightening into fists. So… even up till now I'd had a chance of taking the Exams… "Then say Sakura had chickened out," I asked to confirm, not taking my eyes off the floor. "What would have happened then?"

He understood what I'd been thinking almost immediately. "Yes, Suten- you would have been able to take the Exams instead of her. But don't blame Sakura," he warned quickly. "I know you would have jumped at the opportunity. But I wanted to see whether or not Sakura would be up to the challenge. Right now, Suten, she needs this more than you do."

I bit my lip but said nothing. As much as it frustrated me, Kakashi was right.

Noting my reluctant acceptance, Kakashi continued in a lighter tone, his lone eye sweeping over all of us. "No matter what the circumstances, the fact of the matter is you all came here of your own free will. Sakura. Naruto. Sasuke. Even Suten. I'm proud of all four of you. You're my team. Now, go."

This was where we parted ways, I realized, a slight heavy feeling in my heart. But when I noticed my teammates giving me looks with varying degrees of guiltiness, I forced myself to brush it off and look unaffected, folding my arms. "What are you staring at me for?" I urged. "If it bothers you so much, you can all make this up to me by becoming Chuunin."

Naruto stared at me for a moment, before beaming. "You got it!" he told me. "I'm definitely gonna make Chuunin, no question about it!"

Having been given my blessing, my teammates apparently decided they could move on now, guilt free. After Naruto's declaration there was no need for anything else to be said, so I stood by and watched them push open the double doors and disappear inside.

It might have been my imagination, but I could have sworn that for a second, just for a second… Sasuke looked back.

_**-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-**_

**(3****rd**** Person POV)**

"Team 7…"

The Hokage gazed thoughtfully into his crystal ball. In it were reflected the faces of Kakashi's young students. By now their teacher must have informed them of the true reason he had been given only three forms. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura all wore looks of determination… while in Suten's he saw sadness yet resignation. If only she had been placed into a normal three-man squad, he found himself musing. Naruto's unforeseen graduation had thrown everything out of balance. Then again, throwing things out of balance was the boy's specialty.

Much as he sympathized with their case, however, there was nothing that could be done. Only three-man squads were allowed to register, and… The old man paused, the beginnings of an idea coming to him.

He took a blank scroll and began to write a short message in ink. The rules stated that only three-man squads could _formally_ register, at least. And besides, once he thought about it, Kakashi's team was technically at a disadvantage the way they were now. The other teams had all of their genin members competing; they were whole and complete. How could you test teamwork if the entire team was not there?

With a wave of his hand, he called an ANBU member to his side. "Deliver this to Mitarashi Anko," he ordered, handing him the scroll, and the shinobi disappeared.

Even for a Kage, breaking rules was disallowed… but bending them was another story.

_**-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-**_

Sasuke couldn't believe that he was doing this.

He'd gotten an hour after passing the first stage of the Exams to prepare, and for some reason the first thing on his mind had been to go and tell Suten. But now, standing in front of her front door, the usually sure Uchiha found himself… strangely hesitating. What was he even here for? Did he want to make sure she was okay after being left behind? Did he want her to be impressed at how well he'd handled the first stage? Did he just want to spar?

'_Now's not the time for doubts,'_ he told himself sharply. _'Focus on the plan. She comes out, I say whatever I came to say, and then I go home.' _Taking a deep breath, he knocked on her door.

On the other side, he heard mostly silence. Maybe she wasn't home. Maybe he should try again later, or never. He lifted his fist to knock again, not completely sure what he was doing, and then the door slid open. He immediately opened his mouth to make some comment about how long she'd taken to answer the door…and shut it.

Instead of Suten, a strange woman in civilian clothes stood in the doorway. At first Sasuke thought he'd made a mistake and had gotten the wrong house, but then he noticed this woman had those pure blue eyes he'd grown used to. Right now those eyes were studying him, wondering what he was doing here.

Of all the possibilities he'd considered, somehow Suten's mother answering the door had not been one of them. But now he thought of it, that should have been obvious. Of course she had a mother, he knew that.

Not knowing how to talk to people's mothers, Sasuke shifted his weight awkwardly. "I'm here to talk to Suten," he began, deciding to be as straightforward as possible. "Is she here?"

Her mother sized him up for a moment, her expression thoughtful. Then she beamed. "Oh, you're Uchiha Sasuke, aren't you? You're so mature-looking now, I almost didn't recognize you. Please come in!"

Actually stepping foot in Suten's house also hadn't been part of the plan he'd gone over in his head. But for some reason the self-proclaimed avenger found he couldn't really refuse, so he found himself stepping inside and pulling off his sandals. He'd never before been to anyone's house who wasn't in the compound, much less to a girl's house, much less the house of Takashi Suten. This completely new experience left him standing awkwardly in her foyer, unsure how to proceed. He could tell her house was smaller and less traditional than he was used to, and he looked around while trying not to seem like he was looking.

"It's okay to look around, you know," commented Suten's mother wryly, watching him interestedly. He almost shot her an automatic glare before reminding himself that this wasn't Suten, it was her mother. "Suten-chan never has friends over, so this is new to me, too. She was such a lonely girl, always playing by herself." She'd sounded slightly wistful for a while, but then she recovered and smiled at Sasuke. "But I'm glad she's finally making friends now. I've heard a lot about Team 7 from her- about you especially."

He stared at her, momentarily stunned. 'About…me?' The thought of Suten talking about him with his mother was something he hadn't expected at all. "…what does she-"

"I won't tell you exactly what she says," the woman denied warmly, "but I can tell you've become an important part of Suten-chan's life." Her tone changed, and she looked at him with a more serious gaze. "It's probably not right for me to ask, but… please take care of her. She needs to have a good friend around her that she can trust. And I feel like, no matter what she may say…you're someone close to her."

Sasuke wanted to say that he and Suten weren't good friends, or even friends at all. He wanted to say that she had to be misinterpreting the way Suten thought of him. He wanted to say that he wasn't capable of taking care of Suten in any way, shape, or form. But when Sasuke looked at Suten's mother, he found himself remembering his own. All he could do was nod.

Her smile returned. "Thank you. She's in the back."

_**-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-**_

**(Suten's POV)**

I sat on the back porch with chin propped in my hands, staring moodily at the grass. 'Wonder what my team's doing right now,' I thought. What would these Chuunin Exams even be like? I knew for a fact that they'd probably be fighting the other Chuunin-hopefuls at one point or another… The thought of them going up against that creepy Suna kid brought a worried frown to my lips. I hadn't even seen what he could do, but he was obviously not someone to be taken lightly. Even his own team had been scared of him…

The worst part of it all was that no matter what went on, there would be nothing I could do. I was useless, and I hated that. With a sigh I lay back on the porch, arms folded behind my head as I stared up at the sky-

And the face of Uchiha Sasuke.

Immediately I shrieked, trying to jump to my feet but overshooting and landing in the grass.

"I didn't realize Hime-sama was so lazy," Sasuke taunted, hands shoved into his pockets as he smirked at me.

Face burning with embarassment, I managed to get to my feet successfully this time. "What are you doing here?" I demanded to know, feeling like my privacy had been invaded. "How do you even know where I live?"

"A ninja shouldn't be caught off guard so easily."

"That doesn't answer my question!"

_**-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-**_

Eventually I got over my initial shock at seeing him here. "So why aren't you at the Exams?" I questioned, glancing at Sasuke. "Did you fail out that quickly?"

"I'm glad you have so much confidence," he said dryly. "No, we passed the first stage- even Sakura and Naruto."

I felt a small rush of relief at that- and yet... "That's great- what was it like?" I asked, trying to distract myself.

He looked at me for a moment, sizing me up, before telling me, "It was disguised as a test, but we had to use our skills to get the answers from other people without getting caught. I just used my Sharingan," he added, unable to help sounding proud of himself, "to track and copy the movement of someone else's pen. It was easy."

The Sharingan could do that? I wasn't about to show that I was impressed, however, and simply replied "Hm, not bad." I found myself absently wondering what I would have done, though. I didn't have any skills that could be used to get information like that… I probably would have failed. But then again, Sakura and Naruto didn't have skills like that either. "Wait, so how did the other two pass?"

Sasuke shrugged. "I don't know how or even if they got the answers. But at the end there was a last question that we could decide whether or not to take. If we didn't take it, we failed, but if we took it and got it wrong, we'd be banned from the Exams forever." He shook his head at some memory, smirking. "A lot of teams gave up, but of course that dobe started yelling about how he wasn't going to be scared away. And then we passed, because there was no question. They just wanted to see if we would stay."

The last part seemed kind of confusing, but I guess it was just one of those 'had to be there' things. And since I hadn't been there…no, bad thoughts. "You suck at explaining things," I responded finally, trying to keep the dark thoughts down, "but at least you all passed. That's what's important." I said that last part more for myself than for him.

My teammate studied me for a long moment. It felt like, for that one moment, he could read into what I was really thinking. Then he turned away. "The second stage of the Exams is at the 44th Training Ground**(1)**," he said suddenly, and I looked at him in confusion. "We were given an hour before starting."

I blinked. "Okay, but…why are you telling me this?" I asked, and then frowned as he started walking away. "Hey, wait a minute!"

He stopped at the corner of the house, but didn't look back. "Figure it out," he responded simply, before disappearing.

I made an irritated noise, rubbing my temples. Why couldn't he ever just tell me what he was thinking? It would spare me so many headaches… And what was with him, telling me where the Exams were being held? Was he trying to rub it in that I wasn't part of it? Or…

"_I can think of one teammate who would appreciate having you there, if only for part of the way."_

Kakashi's words from earlier in the week popped into my head, and I stopped, eyes widening slightly. When he'd said it then, I'd thought he was just being weird sensei, but… now Sasuke himself had given me information that would allow me to show up. Did he…did he really want me to be there?

And why did that thought make me feel just a little bit, unexplainably…happy?

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><p><strong>Only one random fact for this time, because I improvised a ton of this chapter<strong>**:**

**1. 4 is considered an unlucky number in Japan(and China) because it's pronounced 'shi' which is also the word for 'death'. Therefore the number 44 is a pretty freaking ominous number. Hence why the 44****th**** Training Ground area is nicknamed the Forest of Death.**

**It's getting kind of bad if I'm mentally yelling at my own characters (well my own character and a borrowed character) to just "stop being so dense and kiss already". But I must be patient. **

**Random thought: I think that if you wanted to use Vocaloids to make a Naruto song or something, Rin could voice Sakura, Len could voice Naruto, Kaito or Gakupo could voice Sasuke, and... I don't know for Suten. Meiko? I'm such a bad authoress I don't even really know what my OC's voice sounds like. Your thoughts, maybe?**

**(Currently listening on repeat to _A Pair of Wintry Winds_ sung by Meiko and Kaito, and it reminds me a lot of Shippuuden Sasuke and Suten... I like when songs remind me of people.)**

**Alright, I've got an annoying toothache, I'm pretty sure there's a storm outside(...which just randomly calmed), and I have set myself up with a ton of drawing to do. So I will see all of you wonderful people next chapter. **

**Questions? Comments? Concerns? Please review!**


	33. Chapter 33

**Hi, I'm alive, and wow this is late. Sorry. Lots of emotional things happened. Lost a friend, went to the mountains, became part of a ship...**

**The ship is going at the same pace Sasuke and Suten's is because I'M SUPER AWKWARD.**

**Anyway, time to thank my reviewers: blackenflames, Shadow demon Kitsune, FearThePanda, XxCupcakeAssassinxX, AngelicLuna, ChitekinaKitsune, The Blueish Rose, Jirouto, BrownEyedDreamr, Ashura Son of Sage, Arnee Wenn, sugabee14, imafangirlforever, Harmonic Bunny(yes, yes that does help, thank you), byakugone, wolfdogpack, Hunter Shippuden, wolfdogpack again, BasicallyComplicated, and two from 4everfictional!**

**If you send me questions and/or suggestions about the story, it does help me to get ideas for plot points going. I promise.**

**New chapter! Suten gives her opinion on the rest of the Rookie... 9? I guess it's 10 now because she's here. I own Suten and that's it!**

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><p>I really should have just ignored Sasuke's typical cryptic nonsense.<p>

There was no reason for me to yell to my mother that I was going out again, then go running towards the training grounds.

There was no reason for me to run all the way past 43 training grounds searching for an area I'd never actually been to before.

And once I'd actually found the elusive 44th Training Ground, there was no reason for me not to just turn around and go back home.

Well, I mean, that last one wasn't entirely true. I'd already come all the way out here, it would be a waste of my time and energy (more so than this already was) to not at least see what was going on. And that was the only reason I was staying any longer than I had to. And the reason I'd come all the way out in the first place- just plain curiosity, nothing else. It had nothing to do with the slight possibility that Sasuke had maybe been hinting at me to consider coming to see him off, in his usual 'I'm trying to look mysterious and cool by not saying exactly what I mean but you should be just not-stupid enough to figure it out eventually' kind of way. Ugh, that jerk. Why was I here again?

My own curiosity. Right.

I wandered through the crowd of genin-hopefuls, searching for familiar faces. Maybe this was some kind of a joke and my team hadn't actually passed at all. Of course that would mean Sasuke was able to joke, something I seriously doubted. The only kinds of speech he was capable of were mostly ego-driven insults and grunting.

"Hey! Suten!"

Naruto had somehow noticed me and was waving me over enthusiastically. Well, at least they were actually here. I couldn't go home anymore now that I'd been seen, so I jogged over without further hesitation.

It was so weird, but I almost felt better being around my team again. As if I'd… missed them, somehow. Even Sakura.

"But how did you know where we were?" asked Sakura in mild confusion. "We only just found out the location for this part of the Exams."

My gaze flickered over to a certain Uchiha. "I got an unexpected hint from someone." Then I stopped, reflecting over what I'd just said, and groaned. "Great, now I'm saying cryptic nonsense too."

"Jeez. I thought I heard a lot of noise from over here…"

Naruto looked over. "Oh look, it's the idiot trio again."

"Who are you calling idiot?"

If the unbelievably lazy voice hadn't been a dead giveaway, I recognized the pineapple ponytail and matching bored expression almost immediately. "Hey, Shikamaru."

"Suten," he recognized, looking slightly surprised. "Didn't think I'd see you here."

Nara Shikamaru was a kid I'd known when I was younger. We hadn't exactly been friends(at least, that's what he'd kept reminding me), but we'd gone cloud watching together pretty often. Well, it wasn't that we'd gone together, per se, I would be looking for a quiet place and he would be there most of the time. Sometimes we even had conversations. I hadn't really been an outgoing kid, but Shikamaru hadn't been weird like everyone else in class, so I felt comfortable with him. He just seemed to be above everything, and the younger me had thought that was really cool. Even though he had literally no motivation whatsoever.

"You entered the Chunin Exams?" I asked with an amused look, folding my arms. "I thought something like this would be too troublesome for you."

"It is," he agreed vaguely, rubbing the back of his neck.

"…so why did you enter, then?"

"I honestly have no idea."

I shook my head fondly. Yep. He hadn't changed at all.

And neither had the rest of his team, from what I could see. Yamanaka Ino, who as far as I knew was basically a blonde and even more airheaded version of Sakura, was making eyes at Sasuke and making snippy remarks at Sakura. The presence of her rival(or friend, I could never tell) seemed to give Sakura her fighting spirit back, and she started sniping right back at Ino. Meanwhile Akimichi Choji, whose hitai-ate made it look like he had underwear on his head, was watching the proceedings while working on a bag of barbecue-flavored chips. After all the running I was tempted to ask him for one, but it didn't seem like that would go well. The kid was crazy about his food…

In the middle of spouting an insult about hairy blonde boars, Sakura paused at a sudden thought and glanced at me, then went over to Ino and began whispering in her ear. Any confusion about their topic of discussion was quickly cleared up when they both began glaring at me. Apparently they had called a truce in light of a new and greater threat to their chances with their beloved Sasuke.

"Looks like they're joining forces against you now," Shikamaru commented, shaking his head. "And I can guess why. What's the deal with you and that Sasuke guy lately?"

I was about to deny that there was anything between us at all, but hesitated. "I don't know what you're talking about."

He gave me a dry look. "All I know is Ino keeps whining about how she's heard you two are going on missions and training together. And I can't even tell her that's what teammates are supposed to do, because then she'll bite my head off. So if there's any truth to the rumors that something's going on between you two…"

"Hey, Suten! You made it!"

Our conversation was cut off by the arrival of one Inuzuka Kiba- as well as his puppy Akamaru, riding on his head. Kiba was basically an even wilder version of Naruto. I guess he'd taken a little interest in me since I wasn't all over Sasuke back in the Academy. I have to admit that I didn't share that interest until he got his puppy. I mean yes, I did say I was a cat person…but Akamaru's just adorable.

Speaking of girls who weren't all over Sasuke in the Academy, behind him trailed Hyuuga… Hanabi? Again, she'd barely spoken up or gotten called on at all in class, so I couldn't remember exactly what her name was. Looking at her, all quiet and shy, it was hard to believe she was in any way related to that jerk I'd met earlier. But the eyes didn't lie, after all. Another thing is that Hina-Hana-whatever her name was had the biggest and weirdest crush on Naruto, of all people. It was so completely obvious to everyone- the way she blushed whenever he entered the classroom, how she stuttered and sometimes even fainted whenever he tried talking to her- but for some reason Naruto just couldn't take a hint. How she could like someone so dense, I would never know. I mean, how stupid would you have to be not to notice that someone liked you that much?

Anyway, last in their group was Aburame Shino, whose name I remembered only because the guy was just plain creepy. While the Inuzuka clan worked with dogs and the Uchiha and Hyuuga clans were all about their eyes, the Aburame clan worked with bugs. Now, I'm not one of those girls who jump on a desk screaming because of a spider. But these people let the bugs crawl all over them and- so I've heard- even inside them. The reason they cover themselves up with heavy coats and long pants is so they don't give people heart attacks when they walk down the street. I'm pretty sure their fighting style is covering you with bugs and waiting until you pass out. Ughhhh.

Naruto apparently didn't like the sudden onslaught of old classmates. "Man, what are you guys all doing here again?" he whined. "Don't you have anything better to do?"

"Give it a rest, runt," Kiba replied, and Akamaru yipped agreement.

"Runt?! Who are you calling-"

"Anyway, Suten! Long time no see," he continued as if Naruto hadn't spoken, grinning at me. "For a moment there I thought you were going to miss out on all the fun."

"Well, I still am," I told both him and Shikamaru. "I'm just here to see them off."

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. "I didn't know you could come see people off in the Exams."

"Yeah, neither did I." For all I knew, this could be illegal. Actually, it probably was. Kakashi, if I end up in prison because of you...

This didn't pose an issue to Kiba. "Yeah, well, you're here, aren't you?" he pressed. "So how's it going with your team? I know it can't be easy getting stuck with Naruto."

I couldn't help cracking a smile. "Yeah, it's kind of a pain. Although when he's not being an idiot and getting into trouble all the time, he can be pretty helpful sometimes."

"Huh? You sure we're talking about the same guy?" Kiba looked over at Naruto, who for some reason was being chased by a square rock. "That's the Naruto I'm talking about," he clarified, pointing.

"I said **sometimes** he's helpful," I stressed, shaking my head at the blonde's antics. "Am I not allowed to change my opinion?"

"And speaking of changing opinions," Shikamaru interrupted quickly, "you never answered me about Sasuke."

Kiba nodded, apparently knowing what Shikamaru was talking about. "Right, that guy. I've heard you and him have been pretty close lately," he told me with an accusing stare.

I shook my head, subtly glancing at Sasuke to see if he was listening in. "Look, I don't know where you guys are getting this from. We're teammates, okay? Teammates are supposed to train with each other and go on missions and things like that."

Kiba didn't look convinced. "I heard he took you out to dinner," he challenged.

My face turned pink instantly. "That's not what happened! That was just a casual, after-training dinner among teammates!"

"Several times," added Shikamaru.

"Who the heck is telling you this stuff?!"

Thankfully I was saved from further interrogation by Naruto, who decided to confront the rock who had been chasing him. He turned sharply to face it, and the rock screeched to a halt. "Konohamaru, that's the worst disguise I've ever seen," he declared, jabbing a finger at it. "There's no such thing as square rocks!"

"That's just what I expect from the man I look up to," responded the square rock, not at all bothered by being found out. A bright light shone forth from its edges before the 'rock' exploded in huge clouds of colored smoke.

As the smoke cleared, a trio of young Academy students were revealed, coughing on the grass. Actually, they all looked familiar- weren't they the same kids from before, with those Suna genin? The kid with the ridiculously long scarf I now recognized as the Hokage's 8-year-old grandson, Konoha-something. "You used too much gunpowder," he muttered to one of the others. Then they all seemed to realize they had an audience.

One of them, a girl with thick carrot-colored hair in high…pigtails jumped to her feet. "The one who possesses the sex appeal of an adult, and the female ninja from the senior group- Moegi!" she introduced, striking what she thought was a sexy pose.

Next was a kid with round glasses and a very runny nose. "The one who loves dividing numbers- Udon." He sniffled.

And finally, their apparent leader stepped forth. "This village's number one genius ninja- Konohamaru!"

Then all together they finished, "The three of us make… The Konohamaru Ninja Squad!"

Naruto had definitely met them more than once before. "What do you three want?" he asked, lacing his fingers together behind his head. "I'm about to take the second part of the Chunin Exams. I don't have time to play with you." I couldn't help but notice how he was acting less Naruto-like now- probably trying to look cool in front of his fanclub.

Konohamaru seemed to take offense. "We didn't come here to play!" he denied.

"Yeah, we're here on a story," added Moegi enthusiastically. She seemed to have dropped the sexy act and gone for the adorable act instead.

Udon just nodded his agreement.

This seemed to get Naruto's attention- although he tried to only look barely interested. "A story?"

Their pint-sized leader nodded, thankful that he was being taken seriously now. "We were asked to do an exclusive story on the Chunin Exams for the Academy newspaper."

The Academy had a newspaper? I guess I had heard something about it when I was there, but I hadn't given much thought to it. I'd had bigger things to worry about at the time: Naruto screwing up and giving us extra classwork, my low grade in International Affairs classes, trying to avoid Kiba's attempts to talk to me…

"So we came to ask you some questions," the ginger piped up again. "Please cooperate?" She batted her eyelashes adorably.

Udon bowed and mumbled a "Please", sniffling again.

Naruto still seemed hesitant.

"Over there! What are you doing?"

One of the adults was heading in our direction- who I recognized as that one woman who was always at the dango shop. Her gaze swept over me and I found myself stiffening- what if she realized I wasn't supposed to be there either?- but she didn't say anything about my being there.

Naruto took it upon himself to explain the Academy students "Konohamaru wants to do an exclusive for the school newspaper or something," he stated.

She looked puzzled for a minute, then her eyes widened and she grinned sheepishly. "Oh, right, I forgot that Hokage-sama mentioned something about that too."

Too? I knew it wasn't any of my business, but…

"Alright! Seeing as we have some time left in our break, that will be used to conduct the interview. Those of you being interviewed, please be polite and cooperative with the reporters for the Academy newspaper."

Shikamaru shook his head. "Well, they won't be asking me anything," he stated, "so I'm out." He fixed me with a look and added, "By the way, this isn't over. Just don't do anything troublesome."

"I won't," I called after him as he began walking away, his head already tilted towards the sky, "because nothing is going on."

"You're getting really worked up over nothing, then," he responded over his shoulder.

I couldn't say anything to that, instead huffing and folding my arms. Had he always been this perceptive?

**3****rd**** Person POV**

"Sasuke, Sakura-chan, and Suten are in the squad too, but I'm the only one who does anything, so don't bother with them."

Despite his earlier hesitation, Naruto seemed completely at ease being interviewed now. He sat with arms folded and a wide grin as he filled the young reporters in with his…unique view.

The Academy students exchanged glances, and Konohamaru pressed, "Okay, but talk about them anyway. For the interview?"

"Alright, alright…" He thought for a moment, before deciding to start with his rival. "Well, Uchiha Sasuke's a conceited kid. He's a survivor of the famous Uchiha clan, but he's really just a miserable guy, as you probably saw… Oh, once I transformed into him and ended up fooling everyone. Just a reminder of how great my ninjutsu is!

"Then there's Haruno Sakura-chan, the girl who's in love with me." He beamed at the mere mention of her. "They say that hate is a part of love, so she won't show her true feelings- but that part of her's cute as well!"

He was met with very skeptical looks from the students at this. No doubt they remembered Sakura threatening to pound them- Naruto included- into the dirt. "Is that true..?"

"Yes, yes, it's true! Sakura-chan is definitely in love with me-"

"Naruto!"

A fist slammed into the back of his skull before he could get another word out, effectively knocking him down and scaring the children. "Don't go around spreading lies," hissed Sakura as he struggled to pick himself up from the ground. She stormed off in a huff.

"…so it was a lie," Konohamaru deduced.

Naruto rubbed his throbbing brain, checking to make sure that she was nowhere nearby. "She'll come around someday… Anyway, last is Takashi Suten, who doesn't care what anyone thinks. She's the only girl in our class who wasn't all over Sasuke in the Academy, so of course that made Sasuke fall in love with her. But he's a jerk and doesn't know how to talk to women, so she likes me better than him right now."

"You're not the best judge of love…"

"No, I mean it this time! He's so obviously in love with her, it's pretty sad. If I wanted to, I bet I could just steal her from him really easily. But my heart belongs to Sakura-chan…"

"…whatever you say."

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><p><strong>...yay abrupt ends? <strong>

**So it would seem Sasuke and Suten aren't being too subtle about their interactions together. People are starting to notice... Maybe someday the two of them will, too. I can only hope that my own ship progresses as steadily as theirs does- though faster would be nice.**

**Alright, I have a headache, so I'm going to sleep. Please keep sending in your random thoughts and ideas and things. It helps me. It really does.  
><strong>

**Questions? Comments? Concerns? Please review!**


	34. Chapter 34

**Wow, this is late. Sorry...there was a small part near the end that I just drew a blank for. So I procrastinated, and the result of that...**

**Well. Anyway. New chappie. Stage 2 of my weird plan of having Suten not-not participate in the Chuunin Exams begins now.****Dango-lady is Anko by the way, if it wasn't obvious. But Suten doesn't know her name- she just knows her as the lady who's always at the Dango Shop.**

**I'm really going to need to get a new laptop...**

**Ah- almost forgot to thank my reviewers: x-psychicfire-x, Blackenflames, Windwhistle21, Tokiomi, BasicallyComplicated, Arnee Wenn, XxCupcakeAssassinxX, Hunter Shippuden, imafangirlforever, ChitekinaKitsune, Ita-chan18, dramalover10, Jirouto, FearThePanda, Guest who loves the story too much, Alter Ego Bob, Bookworm12321, LifeOfTheLost, Anon-chan, XxRikela-chanxX, and Forever-Buckskin!**

**I'm seeing quite a few new pennames, which is really cool. Seriously, where are you all finding this little fic of mine? Let me know, please.**

**I own Suten and my ridiculous additions to the Naruto plot, and that is all.**

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><p><strong>(Suten POV)<strong>

I wasn't sure how well it had gone, seeing as from what I could tell nobody had given any relevant info. Naruto and Sasuke had spent their individual interviews talking about how much better they were than everyone else, and Sakura had spent it giving them a history lesson on chakra and- you guessed it- talking about Sasuke. I didn't expect that I'd be interviewed as well, but Moegi approached me with a notepad and a hopeful look. So of course, I told her the truth.

"It's true that everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses," I began, "but when it comes to overall usefulness, that's another story. I'd say the ranking goes…Kakashi-sensei on top, obviously. Then Sasuke and me, because we just about balance each other out so I can't say either of us is better… but don't tell him that," I warned her. "Then Naruto, surprisingly. I wouldn't have said that a few months ago." I hmmed, tapping a finger on my chin. "So dead-last in usefulness would be Sakura, it looks like."

It was odd, but after saying that I thought I heard a thud, followed by someone groaning "You think that, too?"

Moegi jotted down my rankings on her notepad, nodding to herself. "So is it true you're dating Uchiha Sasuke?" she asked.

"You too? I mean…why would you think that?"

"Well…" Clearly she was trying to sound like an actual reporter, albeit one full of excitement at the prospect of uncovering a secret relationship. "Our sources have seen you two together in the training grounds a lot. All alone."

I coughed, trying to hide a blush. When she said it like that… "Yes. Training. That's what shinobi do, they train."

She didn't look convinced. "And then go out for dinner?"

"W-well, that's…"

"Did Sasuke really carry you to the hospital?"

"Who are your sources?! And is anyone interrogating Sasuke like this?"

_**-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-**_

At any rate, Konohamaru and his friends finished the interview and began the long trek back to school. I really should have gone with them at this point, because I had no reason to be there, but I lingered anyway. They were cute kids. Nosy, but cute.

"Forest of Death, huh?" I murmured, staring up at the forest warily. It did look pretty eerie, with the thick trees and the vines and the overall darkness of the place, but it couldn't be that bad, could it? As I thought this, a bird landed up in one of the trees. It fluttered its wings- and was immediately swallowed by an enormous snake. I gulped. Okay, maybe it could be that bad.

"This sure is a creepy place," Sakura murmured, and I nodded. That was an understatement.

The dango-loving lady chuckled ominously. "Soon you'll experience just why this place is called the Forest of Death," she promised.

Naruto, being a moron, wasn't scared in the least. "Soon you'll experience just why this place is called the Forest of Death," he mocked, sticking his butt out and shaking his hips. Then he grinned. "There's no point trying to scare us like that! I'm not scared at all!"

Dango-lady didn't seem surprised. "Really?" she said, as if speaking to a small child. "You sure are energetic."

I only realized she'd thrown a kunai knife after it had whizzed past Naruto's face. By that time she was right behind him, nearly breathing down his neck. "Boys like you die the fastest," she purred, taking a hold of his face with one hand. With the other she brushed a finger over the blood welling from the new cut on his cheek. "After spilling out that red blood I love all over the place…"

Suddenly she sensed something. Another kunai slid from her sleeve, and she turned to face her attacker. It was one of the chuunin-hopefuls, a woman wearing robes and a straw hat, leaning over her shoulder and holding the kunai knife that had been thrown- with her tongue. Her very long tongue. Her tongue the length of a human arm.

"Your kunai," she said, speech more understandable than it should have been given _her monster tongue was so far out of her mouth_.

"Why, thank you." Dango-lady smiled, but it seemed fake. "But don't stand behind me like that. That is, unless you want to die young." She collected the kunai knife.

The strange woman's tongue retracted back into her mouth. "Well, I get itchy when I see blood," she explained, thin lips stretched into a smile. "Also, my precious hair was cut, so I got a little…excited."

I honestly couldn't say which of the women scared me more at that moment. Even as the straw-hat woman excused herself and returned to her teammates, I found myself still watching her warily.

Naruto quickly got over how creeped out he was about what had just happened, and began sticking out his tongue, apparently trying to see if he could make his stretch that long.

"It looks like there are a lot of hot-headed people here today," Dango-lady commented with a chuckle, staring after the straw-hat woman with a strange grin on her face. "This is gonna be interesting."

Right. Interesting. That was one word for it.

She began speaking to the crowd again, returning to her original spot in front of the tall metal fence. "Before we start the Second Exam, I'm going to pass these out to everyone." From within her coat she drew a thick stack of papers. "These are consent forms," she explained. "Those taking the exam must sign one of these. You see, from this point on, people will die. Therefore, we need people's consent before we continue. Otherwise, I'll be held responsible!"

Her laughter didn't match what she was saying at all… She was a seriously scary person.

"Now, I'll begin explaining the Second Exam," she continued, giving the stack of forms to Naruto so he could start passing them out. "To be concise, you'll all be going through an extreme survival match."

The stack of forms went to me, and I was about to pass them on- l wasn't taking the Exams, I didn't need one- but I saw Dango-lady staring at me. She raised her eyebrows, as if silently urging me, and I found myself taking one anyway.

She smiled approvingly and went on, taking a scroll from her pocket and letting it fall open to reveal a map of the forest. "I'll explain the training ground's geographical features. The 44th training ground is a circular region surrounded by 44 locked gate entrances. It has a forest with a river, and a tower in the middle. The tower is approximately 10 km from the gates. Inside this limited space, you'll have to go through a certain survival program. The program consists of a competition where anything goes…over these scrolls." She put back the map, now drawing out two smaller scrolls- one blue and one white.

"The Heaven scroll, and the Earth scroll. You'll fight over these scrolls." She had finally gone serious now as she looked into the crowd of Chuunin hopefuls. "26 teams in total passed the First Exam. Half of those teams will get the Heaven scroll; the other half will get the Earth scroll."

"And?"

Sasuke had somehow slipped from my radar in the middle of all the weird and creepy things going on, but he came back at that moment. "What's needed to pass?" he pressed. He'd never liked when it took a long time to get to the point.

Dango-lady seemed to respect that. "Bring the scrolls of both Heaven and Earth to the tower with your teammates."

"So the 13 teams who get their scroll stolen- that's half the people here- will fail," Sakura confirmed. She looked daunted at such overwhelming odds.

Dango-lady nodded. "But it needs to be done within the time limit," she added. "The Second Exam has a time limit of 120 hours, or exactly 5 days."

Shikamaru's teammates didn't seem to like hearing that.

"Five days?!"

"What about food?!"

"Scrounge it up yourselves," she told them sharply. "The forest is a treasure trove of nature, there should be plenty of food."

"However…" A boy who looked slightly older than us spoke up. He had silver hair in a low ponytail and wore round glasses. "There are a lot of man-eating beasts, and poisonous bugs and plants."

This only seemed to freak out Shikamaru's teammates even more. Shikamaru himself, of course, was watching the clouds again. Meanwhile, the other genin around us began to realize just how challenging this Exam was shaping up to be.

"It's also not possible for 13 teams to pass."

"As time passes, you will be required to move more. So the time to rest your body will become shorter. This seems quite rough."

"On top of that, we're surrounded by enemies." Sasuke, ever the pessimist, contributed his own opinion. "We won't be able to sleep in peace."

But Dango-lady didn't seem concerned at all. "People will get hurt fighting over a scroll. And those who can't bear this program's strictness will get hurt, as well."

Finally Shikamaru spoke up. "Excuse me," he said slowly, raising his hand. "Can we quit in between?"

I facepalmed. "I should have expected that…"

She almost looked offended that he would even suggest it. "As a rule, you're not allowed to quit during this Exam. You will spend the five days in the forest." She turned back to the other Chuunin-hopefuls. "While we're on this topic, here are some conditions." She began counting them off on her fingers. "First: a team that can't bring both scrolls to the tower with all their teammates will fail. Second: a team that loses a teammate or arrives with an unrecoverable teammate will fail. Also, just as a note…you're not allowed to look at the scrolls until you get inside the tower."

"What happens if you look?" Naruto questioned, already curious as to just what could be inside the scroll.

She smiled dangerously. "That's a surprise for if you look."

Why'd she need to say something like that? Telling someone they're not allowed to do something just makes them want to do it even more.

"If you become a Chuunin," she explained, "you'll end up handling top-secret documents. It's to determine your reliability. Well, that's it for the explanation! We'll exchange three consent forms for one scroll at that hut. And after picking your gates, everyone will start at the same time.

Dango-lady paused for a moment, as if debating whether or not to say more, then sighed. "One last piece of advice…don't die."

Gee, thanks, Dango-lady. What would anyone do without your encouragement?

-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-

I stared at the consent form in my hand with a frown. Why did I still have the stupid thing? No matter what, I wasn't competing in the Exam, and she'd just made a mistake. I gripped it tightly, wanting to crumple it up and throw it away.

"You should sign that."

Startled, I looked up to see Dango-lady herself standing in front of me, hands on her hips. "If something happens to you in there, we can't have it being my responsibility," she reminded me.

I shook my head, ready to explain her mistake. "No, I'm not competing, I'm just here for my team-"

"Even if you don't think you need it," she cut me off, "I think you should still sign it. Just in case." The smile she gave me was an ominous one as she handed me a pen.

Uneasily, I bent down and used my knee as a surface to write on, signing my name at the bottom of the form. I didn't understand, but from what I'd seen of her it was better to just do as she said. She held out her hand for the form once I'd finished signing, and I handed it to her reluctantly. She pocketed it, before glancing in a different direction. "Ah. Looks like he understands the real reason for the consent form."

I followed her gaze and realized she meant Sasuke, who was staring intently at his form. The real reason? I hadn't thought about something like that, seeing as I wasn't competing. But now, thinking about it, I looked around and saw the determination on the faces of the other chuunin-hopefuls. There were some here who would do anything to pass.

Even if it meant killing the other teams for their scrolls.

Noticing a flash of pink near the gate, I looked around and saw Sakura nearby. She looked pale, her green eyes wide with fear as she studied her consent form. I really didn't envy her getting to go in there- actually, this was the one time I was glad I wasn't taking the Chuunin Exams.

But on the other hand, if she stayed panicked while in the forest, her loss of nerve could cost our team the second stage… maybe get her- or worse, everyone on the team- killed. I hadn't thought of that. Shoot. I really should have been the one to go. Why had Sakura even wanted to take this thing anyway? For Sasuke? Was Sasuke worth the high risk of death?

The teams around me began filing heading to receive their scrolls, then to their gates. I stood as my own team passed by me, waving them on. "Go on and pass! You still have to make this up to me, you know."

It hit me that this could be the last time I saw any of them. My gaze immediately went to Sasuke, only to find that he was staring at me as well. Neither of us said a word, but after a moment he lifted his hand in what was clearly a wave.

What if I really never saw him again?

-_-.-_-.-_-.-_-

"Chuunin Exam, begin!"

At her words, the gates swung open and my teammates dashed inside. All around the training grounds, the other contestants were charging into the forest as well. I stood for a moment, watching the gates close, sealing everyone into the training grounds. Now I really could go ahead and leave- there was nothing left for me here anymore. In five days I'd know if my teammates had passed, or…

"You, come with me."

Without warning Dango-lady grabbed my arm, then began towing me towards the fence at near-breakneck speed. I wanted to protest, but it took most of my concentration to keep up with her longer legs. Otherwise I'd just end up being dragged along the ground. I did notice when the scenery around me changed in a sudden flash from open clearing to dark forest.

Wait, dark forest? Why was she taking me into…

She skidded to a stop, and I ended up running into her back and crashing to the ground.

"Here should be fine," she decided, nodding to herself.

Wincing at the fall, I climbed unsteadily to my feet, brushing the dirt and dead leaves off of me. "Here should be fine?" I repeated, confused and suspicious. "What does that mean? What am I doing here?"

Almost as if just remembering I was there, Dango-lady turned and looked at me. "Remember what I said earlier?"

I frowned slightly, calling on the memory. "About the consent form? You said even if I didn't think I needed it…"

"You should still sign it. Right." I waited with a raised eyebrow for further explanation, but it never came. Instead she told me, "You're a lucky kid, you know that? Something about your team must be pretty special." She smiled at me, but it only furthered my confusion. What was this lady talking about? "At any rate, have fun and don't die. Good luck!" She jumped back into the trees before I could stop her, leaving me all alone in the Forest of Death.

Alone…in the Forest of Death.

This was bad. Without a team my chances of survival were even slimmer than was fair. I could die, and my mother would never know what happened to me. And she wouldn't be able to do anything about it because I'd gone ahead and signed that stupid consent form. In the distance, I heard someone scream. My blood ran cold, and I broke into a run- in a different direction than the terrifying sound. I had to find my team … but where were they? Where was I? This place was huge and I might never find them. I had a greater chance of finding any of the enemy teams- or whatever the screamer from before had found. I was never going to make ANBU, I was going to die here all alone…

Then I forced myself to stop and take a deep breath. Even if I had my team, I realized my chances of survival really lay in whether I could keep a clear head. Okay. Think. I knew they were headed towards the tower, which was in the dead center of the forest. If I could just make it there, I'd meet up with them eventually.

Assuming they didn't die. But I was trying to stay positive.

'Wait for me, you guys,' I thought, before breaking into a run again.

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><p><strong>Let's hope she doesn't in fact die...otherwise this fanfic won't last much longer. That would be a shame, because you people seem to like it for some reason.<strong>

**Suten: Weren't you already thinking about killing me in Shi- mmph!**

**No. Bad. No spoiling the readers. Anyway, that was just a thought. I have so many thoughts. In varying degrees of cleanliness. **

**...Just like any other person! Right? ...right? **

**Ahem. Moving on.**

**Questions? Comments? Concerns? Please review!**


	35. Chapter 35

**Hi, you should have had the next chapter by now and I apologize. But I've been having the worst writer's block ever and I don't know why. I've been staring at the blank Word doc containing the next chapter for weeks, and then trying to ignore it in the hopes that my inspiration comes back- but it's just this ever-constant nagging reminder in the back of my head. I did not expect the Forest of Death stage to be this hard to write. Maybe I really will just move on to Shippuden...**

**Anyway. I'm not just writing to make excuses, I'm writing to address another thing that's been bothering me. But again, as AN-only chapters aren't allowed, please enjoy this mini-ficlet.**

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><p>"Hello and welcome to another not-chapter of I Hate Uchiha," declared SasuTenLuvr, who for some reason was wearing glasses. "I really hope you guys aren't getting sick of these... Anyway, what I wanted to say- and please feel free to skip this if it doesn't apply to you..." She took a deep breath and removed her glasses, thus exposing the reason for having said glasses in the first place. "It's come to my attention that this story may not be progressing in the way some of you might like. And I can and do respect that. Please realize that I love communicating with all of my readers and hearing what you have to say. I'm open to opinions and constructive criticism. I welcome ideas and suggestions.<p>

"What I do not welcome," she continued with a bit of steel in her tone, "is you telling me what to do, or telling me that the ideas I may have are stupid, pointless, or pathetic. Most writers think that's offensive, actually, and I'm not an exception. Again, I take opinions, but I don't take orders, and I especially don't take threats claiming that if I don't do as you say, then I'll lose the readers I have.

"Please choose your words more carefully in the future if you really don't mean any offense, and this goes for anyone you talk to. Speaking of which: _opinionated- conceitedly assertive and dogmatic in one's opinions_. This probably isn't how you wanted to come off, but ironically this is pretty much how you seemed to me."

SasuTenLuvr took another deep breath in order to calm herself down before she said something she regretted. Lacing her fingers together, she completed the message. "In closing: I really hope you continue to read, but if you're so against the way this fanfic may or may not be headed and you have all these ideas as to how to make it better, I encourage you to please write your own. This isn't meant to be mean," she added, "I genuinely encourage you (all of you, really) to go write your own story and make it what you'd consider to be perfect. I wish you the best."

She sighed, running a hand through her dark hair. She was a nice person, she really was, but... "I really don't like," she said in a tired voice, "calling someone out in front of all my other reviewers, and making said reviewers think that a)I'm a snobby, selfish writer who verbally abuses her critics, or b)they need to go lynch the person who doesn't think this is the greatest Naruto fic ever- it's really not," she added, though not-so-secretly pleased that people thought so. "So for future reference, if you are going to be 'opinionated', please either send me a PM or sign in when you review so I can respond to you privately. Thank you."

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><p><strong>Wow, this chapter must have been a let-down for a ton of you... This wasn't entertaining at all, and I apologize.. I just needed to get that out before too much time passed. Thank you for sticking by me. I'm going to try writing now- hopefully now that my mind is clear..?<strong>

**Questions? Comments? Concerns? Please review- but, er, not this chapter because it's not really a chapter and... meh, do what you want.**


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